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