Introduction

Reveler is a full-service real estate investment, development, construction, and management company based in the US Northeast.. With over 30 years of industry expertise, Reveler is dedicated to building vibrant communities by unlocking the unique potential of each project. Their portfolio includes a mix of dozens of residential and commercial properties, focusing on creating sustainable and inclusive neighborhoods. 

As a forward-thinking company dedicated to sustainability and environmental stewardship, Reveler is committed to investing in the resilience of the communities they serve. In 2023 Reveler embarked on a mission to understand and manage the rain that falls on their properties as a resource . To achieve this, they partnered with 2NDNATURE and utilized their innovative Rainsteward software. This case study explores Reveler’s journey, highlighting the challenges faced, solutions implemented, and their long-term water stewardship goals.

The Challenge

Reveler recognized the critical importance of sustainable water management in the face of growing environmental concerns and regulatory pressures. Reveler manages a portfolio of stormwater assets on a selection of their properties, these were required investments as part of past redevelopment efforts. 

“We have invested in stormwater control measures across our properties and we know we are making a positive impact to our downstream neighbors and local water resources, but we had no idea how much. And as our property portfolio continues to grow in the face of a rapidly changing climate, we saw a real business advantage to proactively manage our runoff”-  Russ Pierce Former COO and Shareholder

With over 3 dozen properties under management in Portland Maine, the Reveler team wants to do their part to help local climate adaptation strategies like helping the Portland community meet their objectives to reduce flood risk and protect water quality.   

When the Reveler team set out to manage rain as a resource and offset the consumptive water use of their properties they faced several challenges:

• How Much Rainwater: The need for a comprehensive understanding of the consumptive water use and stormwater footprint for all of their properties to better understand the challenge and opportunity for improvement.

• Setting Water Replenishment Goals: Being able to understand how to set practical goals informed by how much water they could offset was essential for their ability to set practical goals. 

• Investing Where Impact is Highest: Making informed decisions about where and what stormwater investments will yield the greatest environmental benefits was a priority. 

• Maximizing Financial Rebates: They generally knew stormwater utility credits and tax rebates existed, but lacked a portfolio wide process to incorporate the financial cost savings into their decision making framework.

• Documenting Progress: Tracking and documenting progress in a systematic, scalable and transparent manner posed a significant challenge.

• Simplify Regulatory Compliance: Demonstrating compliance with local new and redevelopment stormwater standards continues to get more complex and costly. They wanted to reduce the costs and uncertainty associated with compliance and be able to efficiently demonstrate utility credits where applicable. 

The Solution: Rainsteward

To address these challenges, Reveler turned to Rainsteward, a cutting-edge software solution by 2NDNATURE. Rainsteward provided Reveler with the tools needed to understand their property portfolio, make informed decisions, streamline compliance and efficiently craft a water stewardship strategy that would meet their needs. As a rapidly growing real estate holding company, the Reveler team wanted a solution that would make it easy to get credit for their existing investments and also strategically plan for the future. The key features that attracted Reveler to Rainsteward include: 

• Comprehensive Data Integration: Rainsteward integrates various data sources to provide a holistic view of Reveler’s water usage and rainwater footprint. All Reveler needed to input into Rainsteward was property boundaries. 
• Goal Setting and Tracking: The software enabled Reveler to set specific water replenishment goals based on their property portfolio and growth strategy. 
• Data-Driven Insights: Rainsteward offers advanced analytics and reporting features, helping Reveler proactively maximize their environmental impact and easily document progress. 
• Cost-Effective Management: Efficiently understand cost savings opportunities while making the information management necessary to capture rebates for any property, whether it is owned or a prospective buy.
• Community and Environmental Impact: Able to communicate their positive contributions to local water quality and flood mitigation to the local communities.

Implementation and Execution

Reveler implemented Rainsteward in a series of 6 steps to minimize team disruption while maximizing impact. 

• Property Onboarding: Revelers property holdings were uploaded into Rainsteward as a list of addresses used to delineate the property boundaries from a national parcel service. Rainsteward did the rest and Reveler had a detailed fact sheet for every property as well as their baseline stormwater footprint in minutes.
• Training and Data Refinement: 2NDNATURE trained the Reveler team on Rainsteward data and workflows, including data refinement tasks. Reveler’s intern systematically compiled relevant existing data sources to increase the data richness of their properties. These data included inventorying of existing stormwater assets in the field, refining properties boundaries, entering water usage records and stormwater utility bills.  
• Goal Setting: Using Rainsteward’s tools, Reveler is evaluating the economics of setting their 3-year water replenishment goal at 1M gallons per year to reduce their stormwater footprint and offset their consumptive water use. They also committed to investing in stormwater management projects that will deliver the greatest environmental and social co-benefits to the local communities.  

Stormwater investments in top candidate properties will boost Reveler real-estate value and offer community environmental benefits. This property benefit badge indicates a high potential for water quality protection, local water supply enhancement, and urban heat reduction in this environmental justice community. Reveler plans to pursue an annual credit on this property’s stormwater utility fee which could save Reveler nearly ½ the cost of the improvements over 10 years. 

• Monitoring and Reporting: Reveler now has a standardized and efficient system to assess the performance of their stormwater assets each year. This monitoring aids in determining maintenance urgency for the Reveler team to optimize operations. The defensible science behind Rainsteward ensures reliable demonstration to the city inspectors their assets are in compliance and providing the benefits intended. 
• Cost Recovery Opportunities: Reveler has begun coordinating with the local stormwater utility departments to explore fee reduction credits for properties that meet local requirements. Reveler plans to investigate other state and federal grant programs that offer financial incentives to property owners who invest in local resilience solutions ultimately reducing the amount of stormwater the local public infrastructure must convey. 
• Optimization: Leveraging Rainsteward’s actionable insights, Reveler can optimize their next investments in stormwater management practices as well as include stormwater management opportunities in and costs into prospective investments, driving significant improvements in efficiency and sustainability.

Outcomes and Impact

Reveler’s use of Rainsteward yielded remarkable outcomes, demonstrating the effectiveness of a data-driven approach to water management:

1. 1. • Enhanced Understanding: Reveler gained a deep understanding of their rainwater footprint, enabling them to identify existing properties for investment and incorporate rainwater management into their prospective property evaluations. 
      • Clear Actionable Goals: Rainsteward made setting meaningful water replenishment goals informed by data relatively easy, giving them a head start on their sustainability journey.
      • Operational Efficiency: Reveler has centralized their property water management data to streamline regulatory compliance and optimize operational efficiency ensuring stormwater investments continue to deliver the benefits intended. 
      • Transparent Documentation: Comprehensive reporting and documentation provides transparency and accountability, strengthening Reveler’s commitment to sustainability to their tenant, investors and communities.

“In an industry where cutting costs and achieving the best returns for shareholders is often the main priority, Rainsteward reminded me that investing in environmental stewardship can be even more important than the bottom-line and we strive to continue finding a happy medium between the two moving forward.” – Caleb Normandeau, Senior Financial Analyst

Conclusion

Reveler’s partnership with 2NDNATURE and the implementation of Rainsteward transformed their approach to water stewardship. By understanding their rainwater footprint, setting ambitious goals, documenting progress, and leveraging data-driven strategies, Reveler has accelerated their resiliency journey. This case study highlights the importance of innovative tools like Rainsteward in achieving meaningful environmental impact and showcases Reveler’s commitment to a sustainable future.

Future Directions

Building on the success of their initial efforts, Reveler plans to continue utilizing Rainsteward to further refine their water management practices, explore new sustainability initiatives, and inspire other organizations to embrace data-driven environmental stewardship.