Rainwater Harvesting Essay

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Rainwater Harvesting Water covers 70.9% of the Earth's surface and is vital for all known forms of life. On Earth, 96.5% of the planet's water is found in oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large water bodies, and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds and precipitation. Only 2.5% of the Earth's water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes and the atmosphere. Approximately 70% of the fresh water used by humans goes to agriculture, 20% water is wasted in leakage and pilferage. In the remaining 10% we use only 20% of water for drinking and cooking and over 60% is used for bathing, washing and flushing down the toilet. Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other lifeforms. Access to safe drinking water has improved over the last decades in almost every part of the world, but approximately one billion people still lack access to safe water and over 2.5 billion lack access to adequate sanitation. Nature has endowed India with huge water resources. We have perennial rivers like Ganga, Brahmaputra, Yamuna, Beas and others along with their tributaries and distributaries besides in North and Eastern India, we have spring fed and rain fed rivers in central and peninsular India-the major among these being- Godavari, Krishna, Narmada, Tapti and Kaveri. These huge potential water resources notwithstanding, we are facing a water crisis across the country. Over the years, rising population, growing industrialization and expanding agriculture have pushed up the demand for water. Monsoon is still the main hope of our agriculture. Mumbai, is one of its 10 mega cities of the world and business capital of India. Mumbai proper occupies a low-lying area that once consisted of seven islands called Colaba, Mazagaon,

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