India gets enough rains to fulfill its needs — domestic, agricultural, industrial, commercial — provided water conservation efforts are taken on a war footing. Even with the utmost efficiency, we can conserve only 40% of water the rains brings to us annually. Another 50% will inevitably run off into the water bodies to enable navigation, fishing, boating, religious rituals and all other activities conceivable with water, says a hopeful Ayyappa Masagi. Also known as ‘Water Gandhi’ in villages skirting the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border, Masagi, has turned almost 26,000 hectares of dryland into wetland, rejuvenated thousands of ponds, lakes and borewells. He has also successfully executed rainwater harvesting projects for nearly 170 industries in and around Bengaluru......................Read more

Source: The Hindu