August 31, 2008

Tara gives lessons on free water Bill Gates Foundation has just budgeted $4m to investigate the potential of rainwater harvesting in the third world. But what about the first world?

America is rapidly catching on to water caching, as rainwater harvesting is also known.

In the Bay Area, Tara Hui, a rainwater campaigner, climbed under her deck, nudged past a cluster of 55-gallon barrels and a roosting chicken, and pointed to a shiny metal gutter spout.

“See that?” she said. “That’s where the rainwater comes in from the roof.”