IN ENGLAND, the village pond is for ducks, and the rainwater butt is for watering the garden. Ducks are pleasing to the eye, as is an English garden in bloom, but neither are vital to survival. In India, capturing and storing rain is a matter of life and death.
In this fascinating amalgam of technology and politics, Anil Agarwal, director of India's ground-breaking Centre for Science and the Environment, resurrects the skills of rainwater harvesting. Here are pits and tanks, check dams and pondsall testament to a vital but largely hidden means of survival in monsoon country.
Agarwal shows how, before the British arrived, huge areas were set aside to capture the rains. But under British rule, these systems fell into disrepair. The state has now assumed responsibility ...
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