When Rainwater Becomes Hope: The Story of Bu Ning Building Community Water Granaries

Yogyakarta – Amid the threat of a water crisis and increasing groundwater exploitation, a woman in Tempursari Hamlet, Sardonoharjo Village, Ngaglik Subdistrict, Special Region of Yogyakarta, has chosen to act through a simple idea: collecting rainwater.

Sri Wahyuningsih (58), affectionately known as Bu Ning, is the founder of Sekolah Air Hujan Banyu Bening (Banyu Bening Rainwater School). For more than a decade, she has consistently campaigned for the use of rainwater as a solution to community water resilience.

For Bu Ning, water is not just a resource, but an important part of culture and the nation’s future.  

“Now people are very dependent on groundwater, but they lack awareness about returning water to the ground. Meanwhile, the population keeps growing and water demand is increasing,” said Bu Ning when met at Sekolah Air Hujan Banyu Bening, Yogyakarta, on Tuesday (12/5/2026).

This awareness began to grow about 15 years ago when she saw the irony happening in Indonesia: floods occur almost every year during the rainy season, while during the dry season, people struggle to get clean water.  

“Indonesia has two seasons with extraordinary water potential. But when it rains, there are floods; when it’s dry, there is drought. From there, we started thinking about how communities can have their own water granaries,” she said.

Starting from a family movement and her background as a traditional market trader, Bu Ning and several colleagues founded the Banyu Bening Community in 2012. The community later grew into an educational space and social movement focused on rainwater conservation.

On 9 September 2019, Sekolah Air Hujan Banyu Bening was officially inaugurated as a non-formal education center for people who want to learn about rainwater management and hydrometeorological disaster mitigation.  

“We use the term ‘school’ so that people are curious and interested in coming to learn,” she said enthusiastically.

In addition to teaching techniques for utilizing rainwater, Sekolah Air Hujan also builds character education through the Sanggar Banyu Bening for children. There, children are reintroduced to Javanese culture, traditions such as sungkem and unggah-ungguh, and environmentally friendly habits like bringing their own tumblers and reducing single-use plastics.

Children are also encouraged to maintain creativity through the “Stories from Home” program, which involves handwriting activities without gadgets every three months.  

“We want children to have good character, stay close to culture, and care about the environment,” said Kamaludin, also known as Pak Udin, Head of Banyu Bening School.

In water management, Bu Ning introduces the concept of a “water granary” — storing rainwater during the wet season for use during the dry season.

She also developed a simple technology called ISLAH (Rainwater Granary System Installation), which allows communities to collect rainwater hygienically without relying entirely on groundwater.

This technology has now been implemented in various regions, from Gunungkidul, Makassar, Minahasa, Bandung, and Surabaya, to the Yogyakarta Palace environment.  

“The hope is that people can have easy and free access to water without having to continuously exploit groundwater,” said Sri Wahyuningsih.

At her home, Bu Ning stores rainwater using tanks with a total capacity of around 20,000 liters. The collected rainwater goes through several filtration stages using “Gama Rain Filter” technology before entering the purification process.  

“The first filter removes dirt and small animals. The second filter separates the initial rainwater so it doesn’t enter the main storage. The third filters it again before it goes into the tank,” she explained.

After that, the water is processed through electrolysis using a simple homemade device. The electrolysis process breaks water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, producing water quality suitable for drinking.  

“Simply put, we use rainwater and turn it into water that can be drunk without boiling,” said Bu Ning.

In addition to being used by the community for daily needs, the electrolyzed water is also used for health therapy activities at the Banyu Bening Community. School children, adults, patients, and the elderly can all use water from Banyu Bening for free.

According to Bu Ning, electrolyzed water has smaller molecular structures, making it easier for the body to absorb. It is beneficial for metabolism. Banyu Bening provides two types of rainwater-processed water. One is alkaline rainwater with a high pH (7–8). Alkaline water contains antioxidants that effectively neutralize free radicals, accelerate cell and organ recovery, and reduce stress by balancing enzymes in the body.

Furthermore, acidic rainwater with a low pH has high oxygen content, making it usable as a wound cleanser to remove bacteria, as a mouthwash for teeth and canker sores, and to help build body immunity when used in the right dosage and under specific conditions. It can also be utilized as liquid organic fertilizer.

This long journey has finally received recognition. In 2024, the Banyu Bening Community received the Kehati Award in the Climate Change category, one of the most prestigious environmental awards in Indonesia. However, for Bu Ning, the greatest award is not a trophy or certificate.  

“The highest award for us is when the community begins to realize the current state of water and knows what needs to be done,” she said.

Above all, she hopes that the rainwater conservation movement will continue to grow as part of efforts to maintain water resilience and strengthen community independence in facing climate change. This aligns with national priority programs for achieving sustainable environments.