Alternate solutions to our water woes

In India, over 76 million people lack access to safe water, the population living in peri-urban areas, etc. The available water is not always safe and is contaminated. To augment the safe water availability, not only should the water be of potable quality, but the sources of supply have to be enhanced. Unlike conventional water supply through piped water, use of drinking water ponds in some rural coastal areas, or developing integrated tanks including revival of surface water ponds are examples of natural measures for augmenting the sources. Further, the rainwater harvesting tool would help in this direction, being a natural process of augmenting safe water availability.