The ancient Sri Lankan 'tank cascades' tackling drought

A federally-funded water conservation program, the System Conservation Pilot Program, is paying farmers in the Upper Colorado River Basin to not use the river’s water during the irrigation season. Leaving their fields dry for the program can earn them more money than they would get from growing crops.

Amid droughts fueled by climate change, communities in Afghanistan are building irrigation pools, miniature dams, and systems of pipes to capture rain, flood, and spring water for agricultural use. Afghans who live abroad are sending them donations to help make it possible.

In the Indian state of Bihar, women-led self-help groups are challenging traditional gender norms and saving money to buy and install solar irrigation pumps. The pumps increase the local agricultural capacity by providing a cleaner, more affordable alternative to the diesel pumps typically used to combat water scarcity in the region.

The community in Jakhni, India, reimplemented old farming practices, like building embankments to trap rainwater and planting trees to prevent erosion, to combat severe drought.

In the Ladakh region of Northern India, vertical artificial glaciers called “ice stupas” melt at a slower pace than natural glaciers, helping farmers to store water for irrigation during the spring drought. Through contests with cash prizes, more than 500 people in 45 villages have been trained to build their own ice stupas.

Farmers in California are taking advantage of recent heavy rainfall by intentionally flooding their fields to restore the underground aquifers after years of drought.

Facing constant water shortages has led locals to innovate and find new methods of survival from pursuing water delivery business ventures to digging rainwater wells for families in need as an act of charity. These practices, particularly digging wells, allows residents to become more independent and grants the ability for community growth through sharing critical water resources.

Colorado is only now recovering from a 16-year long drought that resulted in the aquifer irrigation system becoming increasingly dry. Until the farmers decided to tax themselves for water consumption, realizing that saving water now and taxing themselves would protect their farms and livelihood in the long run.

Nearly a billion people living in the arid regions of the Himalayas depend on glaciers for their water supply. But with climate change, glaciers have been retreating drastically every year, threatening the life source of villagers like those in the Ladakh region of Kashmir. One engineer, Sonam Wangchuck, has come up with an ingenious feat of engineering to help the villages store glacier water by constructing stupas - or towers - using thorn branches that retain ice in tall structures, which melts and provides clean water for drinking and agriculture during the dry season.

Environmental refugees in Ethiopia flee their country because there are no jobs without healthy land. A group of former refugees have returned to Ethiopia with a business venture in Gergera to improve the land by regreening efforts, foresting, and building water conservation systems. The new businesses demonstrated such positive effects that the region is now on the brink of resettlement due to improved environmental conditions.