A case study of rooftop rainwater harvesting of Renavi village in Sangli District of Western Maharashtra: New approach of watershed development in India

The population in India is expected to stabilize around 1640 million by the year 2050, as a result, gross per capita water availability will decline from 1820 m3/year in 2001 to as low as ~ 1140 m3/year in 2050. Thus, the growing concern about water scarcity challenges us to think of alternative solutions to avoid the current problem of water scarcity. The micro-watershed development, which ensures availability of water for agriculture and domestic purpose and the roof-top rain water harvesting measures, which provide water for domestic consumption are often suggested as solutions for overcoming water shortage in drought prone areas of India. This article presents the success story of rooftop rain water harvesting program in Renavi village in Sangli District of Maharashtra, India. The potential assessment of the village revealed that, approximately 20 lakh liters of water collected from rooftops, will satisfy the demand of a population of 1300 for at least 78 days. This estimation is as per the United Nations standard, which prescribes the requirement of 20 liters of water (cooking and domestic uses) per person per day in India.   Key words: Roof top, rain water harvesting, water scarcity.