10th International Rainwater Catchment Systems Conference
"Rainwater International 2001"
Mannheim, Germany - September 2001

Section 2: Rainwater Catchment in Humid and Arid Regions

Paper 2.8

Rainwater Harvesting for Drought Proofing

Preeti Misra
Self Employed Women's Association - SEWA
Ahmedabad
India
email: bdmsa@ad1.vsnl.net.in

Abstract

Women are trying to fight the severe water scarcity in the dry desert region of Gujarat, which is experiencing the third consecutive and worst drought year and has also been affected by a devastating earthquake. One of the campaign's major outcomes was the construction of almost 200 household and about 70 community level roof rainwater harvesting structures in the districts of Kutch, Banaskantha and Surendranagar. The women's ingenuity led to the development of area-specific tank designs. According to the geographical terrain, the design and material used in the tanks of each district varies.

Roof rainwater harvesting tanks are meant to harvest all the water that flows from the rooftop of each house in water tanks. This method is a re-introduction of traditional ways of harvesting water in the villages but improvised through technical methods. These tanks are an important resource for collecting water during monsoons at an individual/ household and community levels and maintaining it through proper chlorinating process. Depending on the size of the household, tanks with various capacities were constructed. The tanks provide drinking water for at least 6 to 8 months.

PDF of full document available to members (5pp, 28kb)