The residents of Kuil Thothom, a slum tenement in Santhome, Chennai, have a lot to be thankful to the Rotary Club of Madras Central, especially R Jeyakumar, its chairperson. The club helped in bringing clean water to their homes.

The need to explore the possibility of rooftop rainwater harvesting in the slums was raised at the June meeting of builders, organised by the Chennai branch of the National Water Harvesters' Network (nwhn). The network was begun by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (cse) as part of its "people's management of water' programme. Jeyakumar, a builder, took the initiative and mobilised funds from the club to purchase a 3,000-litre tank to collect the water harvested in the area.

The slum comprises 320 tenements