India Rain

Farmers and people in villages in India are concerned abouyt the weather. In May the land heats up and wells run dry and it leaves people to wonder how quickly the summer moonsoon will arrive. The moonsoon season starts in early June and delievers more than three-quaters of the country annual rainfall in less than four months.Until the moonsoon farmers plants suffer and die because the lack of water. In the village Satichiwadi the villagers pray to a village Goddesses asking for rain. Satichiwadi lies in India's rain shadow, on espically water- deprived swath of land that includes much of central Maharashtra. Each year after the summer moonsoon pounds the west coasr of India it moves inward across the plains and bumps against the 5,000- foot peaks of the Western Ghats, where the clouds stall out, leaving the leeward side extremely dry.
To lessen their dependence on the moonsoon, the village's residents had signed on to three- year watershed program designed to make more effiicent use of what little rain does fall. The program was faciliated by a non-profit group called The Watershed Organazation Trust. The villagers predict that the programn will bring sucess. The program digs well and finds places for water to be stored so that when it is the dry season the villagers wont have to suffer from the lack of water. I think the program is a good plan and hopefully works, It is unfortuante that the villagers have to wait for a moonsoon to occur to carry out everyday use.
Shanice Hines