We are delighted to share our 2022/23 Annual Review. This year we have delivered 3 programmes in India and 2 pilot programmes in Ghana and Kenya. This work included building 156 rainwater harvesting systems, building one sand dam in Kenya and helping to establish 22 micro water businesses in Ghana. We continue to work in remote communities, where climate change greatly affects the vulnerable communities who are still lacking access to a source of clean water close to their homes or schools. In January, we reached our 36th year and we are immensely grateful to all those who support us. With you ..read more

We are excited to share an update from our partner in Ghana. With this partner, we are funding the creation of 22 new water treatment and distribution centres. These centres will form part of a wider rural water utility. The new centres are located in the Krachi East District of the Oti region, in north west Ghana. As part of this expansion, a new office has been set up in Dambai. The office team is key to the establishment of the water centres in this area. They are working very closely with the women who run these centres, helping them to establish the centre, to treat the water, organise de ..read more

The impact of chauka in the words of one farmer ‘I am Kaluram from Balapura village. Right now I’m feeding my animals in pastureland with my cousin Ganesh, in the village where chauka [a system of bunds and trenches to hold the monsoon rain] have been constructed. Grass has been developed in this land after constructing the chauka, also trees have been grown.  The major benefit is that we do not need to go to away now as we have enough fodder in our village.  Constructing the chaukas is very good as rainwater has started to stop flowing off and percolates in the ground—before al ..read more

Damaben Dayabhai Makwana lives in the Wadivistar area of Ratanpar village. She has seven members in her family, who depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Before building a roof rainwater harvesting system, her family used water from nearby ponds during the summer, as the water in the wells used in the winter season is saline and not usable. The family members were also facing health problems because of the poor quality of available water. Damaben had to fetch water daily, a 1.5 kilometre walk from home. Thanks to WaterHarvest, Damaben’s family now has a 22,000 litre roof rainwater tank a ..read more

Empowerment of women and girls is an important part of our programmes. Water safety training increases health awareness for women and their families. In this programme, all tanks are constructed in the name of the senior women of the household, immediately conferring social status. Our local partner URMUL said that there has been ‘a sea change in the respect of society’s behaviour towards a family which owns a water tank.  Availability of water has boosted the self-image of the family’. ‘A water tank is investment for the future – for the family and for the community; everyone gets invol ..read more

Life is looking up for two women Lali Devi lives in Roshanpura.  She was responsible for fetching drinking water for her family from the village handpump 3 km away, and from an open well in the river near her house during the summer season. In high summer – March to June – the open well became contaminated, so she had to fetch water from yet another source 1km away. ‘Daily walks to collect drinking water are terrible, especially in the summertime.’ she says. In addition, for much needed income she helps with crop harvesting, adding to the burden of water collection in the late evening or ..read more

We would like to thank Alyson Mitchell for raising more than £7,500 for WaterHarvest running this year’s London Marathon. Alyson ran the distance in the marathon that many of the women we work with will walk twice a week – or over a hundred times a year – whilst carrying heavy containers of water for their families. Alyson’s supporters helped to fund seven roof rainwater harvesting tanks, enabling families to catch and store rainwater to give them clean water at home all year round. Girls are able to go to school and women can work to improve their livelihoods or spend time with their families ..read more

Some 35 people gathered in Winchester at the end of September for an event, designed to be part of Winchester Green Week, entitled ‘The impact of climate change on water harvesting in India’, organised by former trustees Maureen Gupta and Peter McManus. After a delicious lunch prepared by local restaurant Rimjhims, a live Zoom to Udaipur made it possible for Om Prakash Sharma, India director for Water Harvest, to present a talk on this topic followed by a Q&A session – almost as good as having Om Prakash in the room with us. The main theme was that the small-scale water harvesting techniqu ..read more

We are delighted to share our new strategy update. This year our work in India continues with a substantial programme in both Rajasthan and Gujarat, working with four different partners. The work continues to include rainwater harvesting in remote, vulnerable communities and land rejuvenation for herders and their families. However, with WaterHarvest now in its 36th year, Om Prakash and his team are able to manage the programmes with increasing independence, freeing us in the UK to focus on building new partnerships in other parts of the world.  Furthermore, our sister ..read more

Nicola Floyd CEO When looking at the quality of the water in our rainwater harvesting programmes, we often use the phrase ‘monsoon to mouth’. Quite simply, this means that we look at each step of the process of catching and storing the rain and try to reduce the potential for contamination as much as possible.  There are currently five measures that we use to improve the quality of the rainwater:  First flush mechanism to prevent the first rainwater flushing the dirt off the roof and into the tank.  Filter inside the downpipe. Cleaning the tank before the onset of the ..read more