Much of the CARE study, took each water technology, from siting to construction, and illustrated how to make it more efficient and harmonious with the realities and patterns of drought. For instance, if a community’s primary water source is through [[riverbed infiltration galleries]], and the drought makes the river dry up, then reliance on the shorter (and often more intense) rainfall events must be maximized. Instructions on how to increase the porosity of your infiltration system so as to reduce rainfall runoff and create a greater catchment area or dam system to accommodate more erratic, “all at once” rainfall events are two smart solutions.
Contrary [[File:contour_Trench_hill.JPG|thumb|left|400px|Contour trenches used to old practices of physically capturing and storing every bit of rain possible, sometimes allowing rain to loosely recharge an aquifer has many more advantages. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) is slow water moving down a technique of managing drought hill so that absorption into the aquifer is gaining in popularity, primarily because keeping the groundwater recharged supports water (and food) security betterpossible. MAR tends to address more factors affected by drought, such as keeping soil moisture (crucial to crop success) and preventing evaporation (since aquifers have natural “lids” of earth/rock/soil on them). Plus, aquifers cover a lot of geographical area, which reduces the time people need to travel to access water, if for example, they can drill or dig a well where they are at, and have local accessPhoto: Unknown.]]
Contrary to old practices of physically capturing and storing every bit of rain possible, sometimes allowing rain to loosely recharge an aquifer has many more advantages. [[Filehttp:contour_Trench_hill//www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CFgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnora.nerc.ac.uk%2F7453%2F1%2FCR06107N.JPG|thumb|left|400px|Contour trenches used to slow water moving down pdf&ei=L3XrT9q0Ke-r2AWuqczDAQ&usg=AFQjCNHkHVSAHNdcNB4zLNRGQWvD3zi4_A&sig2=CY7ebiDRT1b9pldm8SPOiQ Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR)] is a hill so technique of managing drought that absorption into is gaining in popularity, primarily because keeping the aquifer is possiblegroundwater recharged supports water (and food) security better. MAR tends to address more factors affected by drought, such as keeping soil moisture (crucial to crop success) and preventing evaporation (since aquifers have natural “lids” of earth/rock/soil on them). Photo: UnknownPlus, aquifers cover a lot of geographical area, which reduces the time people need to travel to access water, if for example, they can drill or dig a well where they are at, and have local access.]]
The CARE study really helped us rethink Akvopedia as well. It encouraged us to expand and recategorise our water technologies and helped make the information we did already have, stronger and more complete. Next up, is a new study about how floods affect water resources and how to mitigate those influences, also by CARE in the near future. In addition, there has been a request to integrate a new study on water quality solutions. If you have a study to contribute, we’d love to integrate it! Please contact Mark Tiele Westra at: m.t.westra [at] akvo.org.
The main drought page where you will find all of the links and pages concerned with the CARE study: [[Resilient_WASH_systems_in_drought-prone_areas|Resilient WASH systems in drought-prone areas.]]