Recommendations

The participants of the “Regional High-level meeting on Rainwater Harvesting, would like to express their appreciation to the Government of Democratic Federal Republic of Nepal to host this important gathering. It has allowed a review of the potential of rainwater harvesting as an instrument to address the challenges of the Millennium Development Goals, poverty alleviation, equitable development and climate change.

Rainwater harvesting has a lot of scope to augment the supply of safe water for domestic and other purposes, for conservation of water in the urban and institutional setting and for management of drainage and flooding. Good design, construction and management will make rainwater harvesting systems multi-functional, serving many domestic and environmental needs, while keeping water safe and avoiding breeding of mosquitoes.
Rain is a gift from the skies which can be harnessed effectively, always, and especially during emergencies.

The participants of the “Regional High-level meeting on Rainwater Harvesting, 28 -30 June 2009, Kathmandu, after intensive discussions based on the papers presented and deliberations held during the technical and the  plenary sessions have agreed to state the following recommendations:

1. Indigenous knowledge and skills applied in the design and construction of such systems be studied and well documented for application in present times with appropriate modification under the prevailing context.
2. Regional cooperation be fostered, for sharing of knowledge and best practices, by further strengthening and formalizing through the establishment of a South Asia Networking Center for Rainwater Harvesting.
3. Cost-effective options be explored to develop rainwater harvesting systems under Private Public Partnership (PPP) to enhance sustainability of water supply services, including local traditional knowledge or entrepreneurship.
4. Mass awareness, advocacy campaigns and enabling government policies to promote rainwater harvesting be formulated and implemented in consultation with stakeholders.
5. Rainwater harvesting be applied for multiple uses such as domestic water, groundwater recharge, livestock, irrigation and thereby contributing to improvement of livelihood, ecology and environment. Site specific techniques be developed and promoted for ground water recharge like dug wells, bore wells, check dams, recharge ponds, etc.
6. Appropriately maintained rainwater harvesting systems, though providing good quality water, will require public health authorities to institutionalize suitable water quality surveillance. 
7. Effective rainwater harvesting techniques, based on experiences of regional countries be promoted as part of emergency preparedness and responses. 
8. Scientific research and evaluation of rainwater harvesting applications (through R&D) may be carried out for encouraging affordable and economic solutions to enhance the effectiveness of systems and adaptation to the impacts of climate change, etc. 
9. Continuation of regional meetings and conferences be organized every alternate year to ensure regular updating and exchange of information and sharing of experiences to further improve policy environment through integration in national development agenda.