Traditional Water Harvesting Techniques

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A renowned Hindi author Mahadevi Verma once said that it is impossible for anyone to take a step forward without putting one footfirmly on the ground. The same holds true, if not truer for societies. In our enthusiasm to get ahead and get "developed" we have completely cold shouldered our own knowledge and traditions.

[edit] The History of Water Harvesting

India has a tradition of water harvesting that is as much as four to five millenia old. Water has been harvested in India since antiquity. Evidence of this tradition is on inscriptions, texts and archaeological remains..

• Dholavira, a major site of the Indus Valley Civilization dating back to the third millenium before Christ and situated in the extremely dry region of the Great Rann of Kutch had several reservoirs to collect rain water run-off.
• There is also evidence of irrigation based on harvested rainwater in Kautilya's 'Arthashastra'. Written in the 3rd century B.C., the book indicates that the people knew about the rainfall regimes, soil types, and irrigation techniques. It also mentions that the state rendered help in construction of irrigation works initiated and amnaged by the inhabitants of newly settled villages. Members of the community who did not participate in the activities of water mangement were punished.
• The 2nd century A.D. Junagarh inscription provides information about the repair of an embankment which was destroyed in a flood and of restoration of lake Sudarsana, which ceased to exist in the 9th entury A.D.
• Vijayanagara Traditions. This tradition of water harvesting was carried forth over the centuries to the famous Vijayanagar kingdom of SOuth India (1336-1564 A.D.)which placed gret importance on the development of irrigation facilities for agricultural improvement.

Krishna Deva Raya (1509-1530) pointed out that the prosperity of a state will increas only when tanks and irrigation canals are constructed.

According to British Administrator, Thomas Munro , "To attempt the construction of new tanks is perhaps a more hopeless experiment than the repair of those which have been filled though siltation for there is scarcely any place where a tank can be made to the advantage that has not been applied to this purpose by the inhabitant."

• Gond Traditions: The tribal Gond kings were great empire builders. Though the Gonds had a strong central government, each village was independent in its economy and governance. Building of reservoirs for irrigation was the foremost duty of the village chief. The prosperity of the kingdom rested on proper management of land and water resources. Repairs of channels, embankments and distributaries were immediately tajen up after the first rainfall. The Gond kings gave to anyone who made a tank, a grant of revenue gfree land lying below it. The great works like the Rani Talab near Jabalpur remain to this day a monument of their rule.
• Bengal Traditions: An overflow irrigtion system functioned till the 17th century where flood waters were used for irrigation and the silt in the floodwater to enrich the soil and the fish in the floodwaters to control malaria. In the 1920s, the British irrigation expert, Sir William Willcocks was asked to help out the famine prone Bengal. He noted that the best that the government could do was to revive the ancient flood irrigation system there.

[edit] Traditional Techniques in various parts of India

A variety of techniques were developed, in an attempt to harvest every available form of water, from rainwaer to groundwater, from stream water to river water and flood water. But the various systems were in keeping with the ecology of the region, fabricated out of locally available materials and skills.

India can be divided into 15 ecological regions- ranging from the dry, cold desert of Ladakh to the dry hot desert of Rajasthan; frolm the sub temperate mountains of the Himalayas to the tropical high mountains of the Nilgiri.

• Trans-Himalayan Region
  • Zing

• Western Himalaya
  • Kul
  • Naula
  • Kuhl
  • Khatri

• Eastern Himalaya
  • Apatani

• Northeastern Hill Ranges
  • Zabo
  • Cheo-oziihi
  • Bamboo drip irrigation

• Brahmaputra valley
  • Dongs
  • Dungs/jampois

• Indo-Gangetic Plains
  • Ahars-pynes
  • Bengal's Inundation channels
  • Dighis
  • Baolis

• Thar Desert
  • Kunds/kundis
  • Kuis/beris
  • Baoris/bers
  • Jhalaras
  • Nadi
  • Tobas
  • Tankas
  • Khadins
  • Vav/Vavdi/Baoli/Bavadi
  • Virdas
  • Paar

• Central Highlands
  • Talab/Bandhis
  • Saza Kuva
  • Johads
  • Naada/bandh
  • Pat
  • Rapat
  • Chandela tank
  • Bundela tank

• Eastern highlands
  • Katas/Mundas/Bandhas

• Deccan Plateau
  • Cheruvu
  • Kohli tanks
  • Bhandaras
  • Phad
  • Kere
  • The Ramtek Model

• Western Ghats
  • Surangam

• Western coastal plains
  • Virdas

• Eastern Ghats
  • Korambu

• Eastern Coastal Plains
  • Eri
  • Ooranis

• The Islands
  • JackWells

[edit] See Also

• Rain water harvesting
• Stepwells
• Water Crisis
• Barefoot College
• Organic Agriculture
• Appropriate Technology

[edit] References

• Dying Wisdom: Rise, Fall and Potential of India’s Traditional Water Harvesting Systems (Centre for Science and Environment, 1997) by Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain.
• Centre for Science and Environment: Types of traditional water harvesting techniques
• Rain Water Harvesting - An index of first information: India-Centric
• Reviving Traditional Water Harvesting Structures in Rajasthan
• "Channeling Nature:Hydraulics, Traditional Knowledge Systems, And Water Resource Management in India – A Historical Perspective" by Rima Hooja