May 16, 2011 / ENERGY GLOBE Award
Project presentation - "River from Sky"
With only 45 days of rain annually, Rajasthan (northwest India, 56 million residents) is the most arid region of India. In 2003 "Sustainable Innovations", a non-profit organization, initiated the development of the water project "Aakash Gangaist" (translated "river from sky").
The principle is simple: Rainwater is collected from roofs in drains and accumulated in subterranean networked tank system. The success strategy for implementing the project is to focus on long-range economic viability via public/private partnerships (PPP). The system has already been installed in six Indian villages to serve some 10,000 residents.
The government of Rajasthan has now signed a document of intent that provides for extending the project to 70 villages and 250,000 people. The costs of water per liter amount to $0.002 (based on a lifetime of 25 years). By comparison, the price of water from drilled wells comes to $0.04/liter. Additional pilot projects like this are planned for China already.
Find more information here: www.sustainableinnovations.us