By Stella Paul YAVATMAL, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When residents of a city in one of India's most water-stressed regions banded together with authorities to de-silt their local reservoir, they were trying to secure the future of their drinking water supply. But the activists discovered that the silt that clogs the Nilona reservoir, 750 km (470 miles) east of Mumbai, could also boost harvests in this drought-stricken area, where crop failures have driven thousands of farmers to suicide. Their innovative model of crowd-fundeded, citizen-led action has become a model for what’s possible to protect water supplies in India, backers say. Residents of Yavatmal in Vidarbha district...
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