Water Conservation Practices > Rainwater Harvesting

RAINWATER HARVESTING

Many thought that given the disadvantages and rising resistance against the multi purpose projects, water harvesting system was a viable alternative, both socio-economically and environinentally. In ancient India, along with the sophisticated hydraulic structures, there existed an extraordinary tradition of water harvesting system. People had in-depth knowledge of rainfall regimes and soil types and developed wide ranging techniques to harvest rainwater, groundwater, river water and flood water in keeping with the local ecological conditions and their water needs. In hill and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like the 'guls' or 'kuls' of the Western Himalayas for agriculture. 'Rooftop rainwater harvesting' was commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan. In the flood plams of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields. In arid and semi-arid regions, agricultural fields were converted into rain fed storage structures that allowed the water to stand and moisten the soil like the 'khadins' in Jaisalmer and 'Johads' in other parts of Rajasthan.