Three countries in Southeast Asia -- Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines-- have made efforts to provide drinking water by capturing rain. In Thailand, the absence of foreign assistance for large-scale water projects forced the government to look at smaller options, with great success. The Population and Community Development Association, an ngo, undertook a successful rural programme of experimentation with indigenous materials for construction of tanks.

The interest of the rural population in the programme spurred research on building materials. In Indonesia, Dean Desa, also an ngo, was involved in constructing cisterns for storing rainwater. It has worked out an innovative mode of repayment of loans. Two female goats are loaned to a family. When these bear four young ones, which is usual, two of these are returned to the owner and the other two belong to the borrower. The borrower rears them and uses them as payment for the water tanks. The efforts in the Philippines had the advantage of experience. Before implementation, members from the project team visited Thailand and Indonesia. In this case, the mode of repayment was hogs.

China has been successful in large-scale rainwater harvesting, and the potential is vast in this area. The country faces a great paradox. It receives the sixth highest precipitation in the world