Rainwater Harvesting in an Indian Village

This article discusses rainwater harvesting as a means of supplementing other water sources. We will focus on efforts in a lakeside village in Kerala, India where Rainwater for Humanity leads a collaborative project joining local volunteers, with students and faculty from Mahatma Gandhi University, Brown University, and the Rhode Island School of Design to design, construct, and monitor several single and multi-family systems. Although the area has extensive waterways and surface water, contamination from untreated sewage and agricultural runoff renders most of the resource unfit for drinking. In addition to the technical problems presented by the environment (high water table, unstable soil, variable weather conditions), multi-family systems present significant social challenges as well. An equitable distribution of both the resource and the labor necessary to maintain the system, are challenging to negotiate. Work with a local women's group has the potential to solve some of these issues. The design effort is carried out both in Providence, RI and on site in India. This allows back and forth learning between the two institutions of higher education, local groups, and umbrella non-profit to evolve, but complicates implementation.