permaculture

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe@silcom.com>]

"The Real Green Revolution is about rainwater harvesting.
Let us catch water where it falls. Let it transform human lives. Let it 
change social existence. If this happens, the world will be transformed. 
The world will merely be an agglomeration of ecological-rainwater 
harvesting-democracies." 	
- Anil Agarwal
Founder-Director, CSE

Jal Swaraj  www.rainwaterharvesting.org/  An Amazing website with great 
research tools like Ruoff Calculator and more

The Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi based non-governmental 
organisation (NGO) has been promoting the revival of traditional systems of 
water harvesting as a practical solution for drought proofing the affected 
areas. The organisation has developed a comprehensive strategy to further 
the impact of its campaign for participatory, equitable and decentralised 
paradigm for water management. A look at the Jal swaraj campaign:

The journey so far…
Mid-1980s: CSE set out to undertake a massive exercise- to document India's 
traditions in rainwater harvesting.

1990: Organised a national conference on India's traditions in water 
harvesting.

1997: Published Dying Wisdom: The rise, fall and potential of India's 
traditional water harvesting traditions-a book with a powerful message.

1998: Organised Potential of Water Harvesting: Technologies, Policies and 
Social Mobilisation, an international conference of water harvesting 
practioners and thinkers. President K R Narayanan inaugurated it and Chief 
minister of Madhya Pradesh closed it.

1999: January, Released Water Links, a directory of water harvesters in 
India and abroad.

1999: February, Began publishing bimonthly newsletter, Catch Water.

1999: April, Launched National Water Harvesters Network, with its first 
state unit set up in Chennai, under Dr A Vaidyanathan. A national steering 
committee was formed to guide the network members.

1999: November, Began Water Harvesting Advisory Services to provide designs 
to people, free of cost.

2000: May,Led its first Paani Yatra (Water Pilgrimage) to Gujarat. It has 
since organised four such trips in different parts of the country.

2000: June,Released a manual on Urban Rain Water Harvesting.

2000: July,Anil Agarwal addressed Prime Minister, members of Union Cabinet 
and state governors to drive home the significance water harvesting.

2001: March, Published Making Water Everybody's Business: Practice and 
Policy of Water Harvesting, a manual to make water harvesting a mass movement.

2002: July, Unveils its first Rain Centre-a permanently set up exhibitions 
that seek to spread water literacy among urban Indians--in Chennai, in 
collaboration with Akash Ganga Trust

2002: October, Launches its Campaign to Protect Urban Wetlands with a 
two-day long workshop; constitutes a core committee of experts and 
individuals working on the issues; and sets up CSE Lake Net, a web-based 
discussion group

2002-2003: Sets up a chain of eleven model rainwater harvesting projects in 
Delhi, as tools to establish the fact that the technique can be implemented 
successfully by all concerned individuals in urban India who are looking 
for a way to fulfill their own demands.