Our Story
“Complete Rainwater Harvesting is the ultimate solution.” Ayyappa Masagi
Mr. Ayyappa Masagi is the Founder and Director of the Water Literacy Foundation (WLF). In his childhood he faced acute water shortage as he had to walk for hours with his mother to fetch water from the nearest stream bed. Always keeping this in mind, Masagi started experimentnig with rainwater harvesting and non-irrigation agricultural methods in 1994. His vision was not only to make his farm water rich but to help all needy people suffering from water scarcity in India.
In 2002, Masagi quit his Mechanical Engineering job after almost 20 years of service with L&T Bangalore and focussed entirely on his research on water conservation techniques. In 2004 he earned the Ashoka Fellowship for his work concerning water conservation in the agricultural sector.
To reach more people and of course to help them, Masagi founded the non-profit organisation WLF in September 2005. Three years later he founded with Rain Water Concepts (I) Pvt. Ltd. a company to support WLF financially in its efforts and to provide affordable water conservation techniques to everyone.
On one hand the WLF offers simple, cost effective, easily replicable and eco-friendly water conservation techniques for rural, agricultural, urban and industrial needs.
On the other hand the WLF conducts water awareness-raising campaigns, rallies, workshops and visits to demo projects, targeting rural, urban and industrial India.
The Water Literacy Foundation (WLF) has organized more than 8,000+ water awareness programs so far, training the “Water Warriors” of tomorrow. Together with Rain Water Concepts (RWC) the organisations have implemented turnkey projects at over 9,000+ locations including 189+ industries, over 321+ apartments, 43 luxury villas, over 30,000+ individual houses, 233+ educational institutions and rural areas. So far, more than 40,000 ha dry land has been converted to wet land through rainwater & grey water harvesting.
Story of Amateur Bhagiratha-converted.pdfWLF_Handbook brief-converted.pdf