Rainwater harvesting potential in Arunachal Pradesh, India

The state of Arunachal Pradesh, located in the north-eastern corner of India, received one of the heaviest rainfalls in India. Even though the state is blessing with huge amount of annual rainfall (2927.4mm) and many streams and tributaries, many people are facing water scarcity especially during the winter season. The water problem is more in rural villages across the district of the state. In spite of being the sources of major rivers like Brahmaputra, the state with its geographical difficulties and topography are far from water sufficiency for so many years. The present study, therefore, is an attempt to find an alternative to mitigate water problems in the state by examining rainwater harvesting potential and suggest as one of the best option for the state. Analysis has been made focusing on the horizontal variation of rainfall across the districts and assessment has been made with an assumption of the potential amount of rain water to be harvested from rooftops. Also an attempt has been made to calculation the availability of rainwater per capita per day to validate the high potentiality of rainwater in the state.