Ayyappa Masagi

Dr. Ayyappa Masagi is the Managing Director at the Water Literacy Foundation in India. He is known fondly as 'Water Warrior' and has transformed water management systems in many states across India. He firmly believes that India and the world have enough water for everybody, provided we use this precious resource judiciously and without greed, particularly for the private industry's water consumption. Masagi is from a small village in the Gadag District of North Karnataka. As a child, he helped provide water to his family by walking miles every day ' with his mother in the wee hours. His passion for water conservation started because of this and grew as he gained relevant knowledge from his parents and researched water and agriculture. Wanting to pursue his passion for helping India's growing water scarcity issue, he quit his job and founded the Water Literacy Foundation in 2005. WLF is a powerful team of activists training more and more water warriors to conserve water for the present and future generations. They strive to address water scarcity faced by the rural brethren, urban and industrial sectors. WLF conducts awareness programs and rallies in rural areas, thus convincing farmers of solutions for water scarcity and assuring crop yield even during droughts. Nicknamed "Water Gandhi", Masagi is famous for reversing the fortunes of thousands by getting them to practice rainwater harvesting and water conservation. He has driven the construction of hundreds of lakes and water-saving projects and rejuvenated over 1000 dry boreholes. He has also been noted in the Limca Book of World records for having built over 700 artificial lakes. Masagi's career is dedicated to making every drop count, and he ensures that his domestic water use is no different. He has specifically modified his home to be as water-wise as possible by installing a rooftop rainwater harvesting system and collecting greywater in an outside pit to replenish groundwater. Masagi believes that community support can do wonders and aims to provide all people with clean and safe water daily. Ayyappa Masagi is one of our water heroes who has dedicated his life to improving India's water management practices and encouraging people to make every drop count.