Salem is one of the largest cities in Tamil Nadu, India. More than 1 million people live here. Piyush Manush is the convener of the Salem Citizen's Forum (SCF). SCF is an informal group, involved in protecting Salem's environment. The lake was built by the British for irrigating nearby farmlands. The lake is spread across 58 acres and used to be a major water body of the city. But gradually it became a dumpsite for Salem's municipal solid waste. In 2010 SCF took over the work of cleaning the lake. But first, they had to get rid of the garbage and then desilt the waterbody.

A group of students have come together to address their water worries The aqueducts connecting the roof to the ground have been aesthetically designed as a part of the building through tiled wall depressions rather than pipes. The rainwater collected from the roof directly recharges the percolation pits. Even inside the building, there are open courtyards with steps for the water to move down and recharge the groundwater. Our sole aim as of now is to recharge the groundwater aquifer, which is a problem in a city like Gurugram, which suffers from alarming drop in groundwater levels. It is due to this, that we are privileged to …