The Ancient Ingenuity of Water Harvesting

In this TEDIndia talk, Anupam Mishra talks about the amazing feats of engineering built centuries ago by the people of India's Golden Desert to harvest water. These structures are still used today and, as he explains, are often superior to modern water megaprojects.

New water tank at SCC

In an area that receives just nine or ten inches of rain a year and where the saline groundwater is 300 feet below the surface - too far to use solar power to pull it up even if it could be made potable - people have developed efficient ways to capture and store the water they need. Wouldn't it be great if site-specific water-harvesting became commonplace here in Northern California?

[Actually, that reminds us. Have you seen the new storage tank at the Sonoma Community Center? Really flashy. They'll be storing rain water captured from the roof and using it to irrigate the garden.]

So here's the story from India.



About the speaker:
Anupam Mishra works to preserve rural India’s traditional rainwater harvesting techniques as part of his effort to promote smart water management and ensure that every community is self-sustainable and efficiently safekeeping an increasingly scarce and precious resource.

He travels across India studying rainwater harvesting methods and learning from the people behind them. He presents his findings to NGOs, development agencies and environmental groups, pulling from centuries of indigenous wisdom that has found water for drinking and irrigation even in extremely arid landscapes through wells, filter ponds and other catchment systems.

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