Rain water harvesting and women's empowerment

The state of Maharashtra in India, covers an area of 307,713 sq. km. and supports a population of over 82 million people. Over half of this population is rural. The government of Maharashtra has identified 20,000 villages, which face problems related to water. In these villages conventional sources like open dugwells, borewells and piped water supplies fail due to depleting water tables, poor water quality or the high costs involved in operation and maintenance. Many of these villages are supplied by water tankers, especially during the dry pre-monsoon. Water supplied by tankers is prone to pollution, as well as extremely expensive.