Despite the technological advances that mankind has made a vast majority still do not have access to potable drinking water. We are all familiar with the fact that women in some villages have to walk hundreds of kilometers to bring home a few pots of drinking water. However, the fact that, there are areas in the major metros of this country, where families depend on water supplied by tankers once a week, might shock a few of us.



Though rainwater harvesting has been in practice from time immemorial in the form of kunds in the Thar desert, kul and bamboo irrigation methods and temple tanks, the importance of it had dwindled considerably. Traditional rainwater harvesting is still prevalent in rural areas, in surface storage bodies like lakes, ponds and irrigation tanks. temple tanks etc. In urban areas however, due to the shrinking of open spaces, rainwater has to be harvested in order to ensure that the ground water level goes up.

Did you know that harvesting rainwater is one of the simplest and affordable ways of ensuring that you leave behind the legacy of a world that is green and where this precious liquid- water is still available in abundance? Well, if you still haven't discovered the benefits of rainwater harvesting here is your chance.

According to Mr. Seetharaman, a resident of Annanagar, ?my borewell had clear potable water for years. But then as the ground water level started going down. The water level in my well receded as well. But around that time we did not know much about rainwater harvesting. So, most of us who had bore wells made them deeper and those did not have them dug up new ones. This worsened the situation and in the year 2000 I had to buy a tanker of water for the first time in my life of 55 years. However, soon after that there was a lot of pressure from the corporation to have rainwater harvesting done. Ever since we've got it done the water level in my well has definitely increased.?

According to Mr. Santosh Sebastian ex- senior marketing manager with Jain's housing, ?we make sure that we provide rain water harvesting and sewerage treatment plants in all the buildings that we construct. However, we make sure that only clean, high quality rainwater is allowed in to the bore well. Secondly, we make a bye pass arrangement in case there is a problem with, either the water quality or with the bore well itself in terms of silting.?

What are the advantages of rainwater harvesting?

According to Ms. Usha Kumar who had it done in her house a couple of years ago, it is not very expensive, but, has a lot of benefits - for instance in my house I have the water from the rooftops get chanellised into the ground and the other water is stored in a tank? Secondly, since I already had a bore well I was saved that expenditure, the other things I needed were- a row of soak pits, which were concealed, below the ground. Thirdly, you do not need to allocate separate space to have rainwater harvesting facilities.

How much does it cost?

Raju who is a plumber by profession, can now be called a rain water harvesting set up expert because of his experience in this area of work says the cost of setting up can vary. This is because it depends on two main factors- the area of the roof and the structures that will be used to harvest rain.

Rainwater harvesting has several advantages:

* Helps you cut down on your water bills (especially in cities where people have to buy water).

* Reduces demand on the municipal water supply.

* Makes efficient use of a valuable resource.

* Reduces the possibilities of the occurrence of natural calamities such as floods.

* Reduces soil erosion.

* Prevents the contamination of ground water.

Thus, rainwater harvesting is the need of the hour. As Ms. Sheila Dixit points out,? Unless we get rainwater harvesting as a movement we do not have a bright future and for that people have to be motivated to make this a habit." It is not something that we should do to ensure a better tomorrow for our future generation, but it is something we need to do to save the planet and the human race.