Rainwater Harvesting is a way of saving the rainwater which would normally flow off down the drain. The collected rainwater can be used for flushing toilets, watering plants, floor and car washing etc instead of using potable or drinking water.

Implementing rainwater harvesting helps reduce use of existing water supply as well as reducing run-off, erosion, and contamination of surface water.

For rain water harvesting, a storage tank is fitted to roof drain pipes, and the water flowing down the drains is fed through a filter to remove leaves and other matter. The storage tank can be placed under ground from where it can be pumped around. It is fairly simple to setup and can be used in homes, offices, commercial places, hospitals etc.

Rainwater harvesting has been in practice even from ancient civilizations.

In ancient Tamil Nadu (India), rainwater harvesting was done by Chola kings. Rainwater from the Brihadeeswarar temple was collected in Sivaganga tank. In modern times, this is practiced across the world in many countries

In India, rain water harvesting was first introduced by Andhra Pradesh, however got neglected later. In the state of Tamil Nadu, rainwater harvesting was made compulsory for every building to avoid ground water depletion. Within last 10 years, this has shown remarkable results in raising ground water levels by 50% and many other states in India took it as role model. The water quality also improved very much.

Water will be there only if we share the available water and if we are to save it using such techniques like Rainwater harvesting. It should be adopted everywhere to save precious water and reduce demands on drinking water.