NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 10, 2007: India was described as a Hydraulic Civilization by historians. Even when the British came to India about 250 years ago, India was urbanized and there were a number of towns, like Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad, built on riverbanks and other cities with tanks (reservoirs, often several acres) for water supply like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bhopal. In south India, cities had temple tanks. Tens of thousands of water structures with diverse technologies, existed; more importantly, there were also management structures to share and distribute water equitably. One of the best examples of how ancient and rich is the Indian tradition of water harvesting, is from the recent excavations of the Indus Valley civilization at Dholavira, in the Great Rann of Kutch, dating back to 3000 B.C. In an arid region with very little rainfall, devoid of any water sources from rivers, with poor quality groundwater, the people had created several huge reservoirs to collect rainwater. The design and technology was ingenious that allowed them to harvest all the rainwater and drain off excess water.
A variety of water harvesting techniques were developed, in an attempt to harvest every possible available form of water – from rainwater to groundwater, from stream water to river water and floodwater. In the hill and mountain regions people diverted water into channels or dykes to bring water for irrigation and they called them variously as kuls, guls or kuhals. In the central highlands and western part of the country, people built small dams across small rivers so that the water so captured gets recharged into the soil and provides moisture for the post-monsoon crops, called pats and johads. In the arid desert of Rajasthan, every kind of structure was built from small ponds (nadis) to wells (kundis, baoris, jhalaras) to large tanks or talabs.
In the south of India, where there are two monsoon seasons, the rulers built a large number of tanks, these tanks were built in a sequence sometimes of 25-30 tanks, which were fed by a stream. For instance, the ancient Palar dam system supplies water to 317 tanks. In the floodplains of Bihar, a system of canals and reservoirs diverted surplus flood waters to be used later.
The structures are maintained by a complex and interconnected system of community discipline and fiscal responsibility. Water was never considered free, but rather a responsibility of the community. The rulers never constructed these structures for the public, but rather provided fiscal incentives like tax exemptions that would motivate individuals and communities to build water harvesting structures. For instance, in Jodhpur, the Ranisar, situated within the fort was only meant for nobility and the common people used the Padamsar that was fed by runoff form the Ranisar. Similarly, in Udaipur, the famous Pichola lake was built by the Banjara gypsies which is used by the public. Rainwater harvesting – the paradigm of the past – has in it as much strength today as it ever did before. It can be used in rural areas to drought-proof the country. It can be used in urban areas to make cities self-sufficient in water.