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 techniques, refined over the past 35 years, have been adapted to take account of the increasing temperatures and more erratic rainfall patterns. As a result, communities are able to continue to enjoy much more reliable water supplies; migration in the past has been the only solution available in times of water stress, but this is no longer needed despite the overall difficulties caused by climate change.
