Water harvesting expert jets in from India to pass on his knowledge to students

An expert in water conservation travelled more than 4,000 miles to the University of Northampton to pass on his knowledge to students.

Om Prakash Sharma is a director of WaterHarvest, a not-for-profit organisation which funds and supports water-based rural development projects in India.

He came to campus on Friday 6 October to explain how WaterHarvest is helping people living in water-scarce Rajasthan and Gujarat in north west India, by developing traditional and modern water harvesting systems.

Kevin Cook, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, said: “I always enjoy the variety of approaches that guest speakers bring to a course. They provide up to date information and can bring a wealth of personal experience to illustrate a topic.

“Students get to meet and question someone working in the field – in this case on the crucially important topic of water harvesting.

“There are opportunities for students to make use of WaterHarvest’s data, as one did last year for her final year dissertation, and we are also hoping to develop a major research project that involves University staff and Om and his team in Rajasthan.”