Rainwater for Humanity, a student group that started out as an Engineers Without Borders project in 2009, is excited to announce a new direction in the new school year. The project's mission is to use rainwater harvesting to provide more affordable and clean water during the dry season to people living in a contaminated watershed in southwestern India. The design for a ferrocement community rainwater storage tank has been implemented in the village of Achinakom in Kerala, India. Community surveys taken over the past couple of years show that this system will most benefit users who buy water from private vendors during the dry season because it offers a water supply that will be cleaner and less expensive in the long run. The project now seeks to develop and implement a sustainable economic model in order to support the spread of these rainwater harvesting systems across the region. An especially interesting takeaway from Rainwater for Humanity's recent developments is the importance of the intersection of engineering and the community. In the coming school year, the project seeks to find a happy medium between the two using appropriate technology and a sound business plan. To learn more, check out the R4H blog at rainwaterforhumanity.org!
.jpg)
