[[Image:Rainwater_harvesting_icon.png|right|100px|]]
[[Image:rooftop rainwater capture.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A rainwater capture system from a small householdUn sistema de captación de agua de lluvias de una casa pequeña. PhotoFoto: [http://www.jalvardhini.org/storage-01.php Jalvardhini Pratishthan.]]]
Rainwater harvesting refers to structures like homes or schools, which catch rainwater and store it in underground or above-ground tanks for later use. One way to collect water is rooftop rainwater harvesting, where any suitable roof surface — tiles, metal sheets, plastics, but not grass or palm leaf — can be used to intercept the flow of rainwater in combination with gutters and downpipes (made from wood, bamboo, galvanized iron, or PVC) to provide a household with high-quality drinking water. A rooftop rainwater harvesting system might be a 500 cubic meter underground storage tank, serving a whole community, or it might be just a bucket, standing underneath a roof without a gutter. Rainwater harvesting systems have been used since antiquity, and examples abound in all the great civilizations throughout history.
====External links====
* [http://www.rainfoundation.org Rainwater Harvesting Implementation Network (RAIN)]
* [http://practicalaction.org/energy/waterrainwater-andharvesting-sanitation/rainwater_harvesting climate-change Rainwater Harvesting information on Practical Action]
* [http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org Indian website on rainwater harvesting ]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainwater_harvesting Wikipedia article on rainwater harvesting]