Rainwater harvesting

By using a combination of traditional water harvesting technologies together with modern watershed management tools the DRHI will provide long-term solutions at a local village level by actively involving the local communities in all aspects of the Initiative. The local villagers will be empowered to create their own Village Water Action Plans and will be responsible for designing, planning, implementing, assessing and maintaining their own projects and programs.

The benefits for the local communities will be on three fronts; social, economic and environmental including improved health by providing safe drinking water, enhanced local environments through reforestation and increased ground water recharge, and enhanced local economies through improved agriculture and food supply.

The initial rainwater harvesting activities in Jadan started as a small scale project to construct a traditional rainwater reservoir and provide water delivery via tanker to a surrounding drought affected communities. With the drought extending into its fourth year, it was soon realised through discussion with villagers and from increasing requests for water solutions in communities throughout the wider Rajasthan region that this was an issue on a much larger scale in urgent need of attention.

The initiative aims to provide a year round supply of fresh water for rural communities in Rajasthan.

With the launch of the DRHI, the reservoir will now be just one strategy to be used in combination with a range of others (including village rainwater jars, small wells, interceptor dams to recharge groundwater, sustainable agriculture practices and reforestation projects) to transform the region into a model of sustainability. The Desert Rainwater Harvesting Initiative aims to build capacity within the community to empower villages to independently manage their own water resources through an innovative process called Village Water Action Planning. It is anticipated that the Desert Rainwater Harvesting Initiative will provide a Blue Print for other semi-arid and drought affected regions of India and the rest of the world.