WATER HARVESTING

RAIN WATER HARVESTINGWhy ? When ? How & Where ? Has it been done ? Lessons Learnt !

Why because

1) water should never be wasted and allowed to flow out of any village or community facing a drinking water shortage.

2)less cost of collection than underground water

3)collecting rainwater is the only way of recharging water sources and revitalising dry open wells and dry hand pumps.

4) it gives an opportunity for communities to come together and work closer.

5) it will provide productive employment to the rural poor in their own villages.

When1)Rain water harvesting measures are essential when the ground water is brackish or has a highIron or Flouride content.2) Rain water harvesting measures should begin four months before the monsoon is to arrive.

Where and how

How do underground tanks fill up ?1. Rain water collects on rooftops.2. This water is guided into overflow pipes.3. These pipes connect to an underground tank.3. Once the tank is full, the water can be accessed through simple means like a bucket or byinstalling a handpump.

2)Rainwater can be collected from the roofs of remote rural primary schools in underground tanks constructed by “barefoot architects” at a nominal cost with no repair or maintenance required.# #)Rainwater MUST be collected in areas where the groundwater is brackish (salty) or where the water is not potable because of too much iron or flouride.

***Rainwater can be collected in artificial tanks within villages. The water collected provides forcattle. It serves to recharge the groundwater and revitalise open wells and dry hand pumps.

**Rainwater can be diverted and collected in large open wells

• HAS IT BEEN DONE

**From 1988 to 2001 barefoot architects constructed rainwater harvesting structures in over 200 rural primary schools collecting 19 million litres annually. Cost : US$ 0.50 cents/ litre.• Millions of litres have percolated into the ground by directing surface water into open wellsrecharging them and revitalising dry hand pumps.• In the drought prone areas of Sikkim in the Himalayas 160,000 litres rainwater harvestingstructure has made the Training Centre for barefoot solar engineers self sufficient in water.

LESSONS LEARNT

• Rain water can be collected where it falls. In schools and within the village, to revitalize openwells and handpumps at a marginal cost.

• The community has the competence and technical capability to construct their own waterharvesting tanks without any expertise from outside.• This is the only long term solution to drought proofing villages against water scarcity.• The community has management and control over the water not the government.• The construction of rain water harvesting structures is understood by all communities and canbe replicated everywhere in the world where there is an acute drinking water shortage.

THANK YOU