Ancients knew how to catch the water

Water scarcity has become a serious concern. The security experts are already trying to find ways out to avoid possible water wars in future. Water was a commodity that was freely available to us. Partly due to anger of the weather god and partly due to our own doings, per capita availability of water is declining fast.
Mismanagement of available resources, over exploitation, tendency of people and also the government to make money out of water, pollution of surface resources like rivers and encroachment of ponds and lakes are some of the factors that are making the situation grave. The viable resource left now is groundwater. Pollution of ground water is rampant and due to excessive drawl and less recharge the aquifers are becoming dry. As the days pass water is becoming scarce even in the areas where it was thought to be in plenty. It is important to take lessons from the pages of history and learn what our ancestors and elders were doing in the past.
For them water was a revered commodity.
Water conservation in ancient India:
It appears our ancestors understood the significance of conservation of water better than us. The water harvesting techniques used by them reveal their amazing ingenuity.
Mohenjodaro and Harappa (2600 BC) on the banks of the river Indus in the north and Dholavira located on a low plateau in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat have well developed underground drains. In the Western Ghats about 130 km from Pune exists one of the ancient water harvesting systems in the form of square tanks cut in the rocks to store rain water along a route frequented by the tradesmen.
In the Himalayan terrain, despite scarcity of water townships were established on ridge tops because of a number of flowing springs. One such town is Almora situated on a ridge in Uttaranchal. A strategic location and presence of about 200 flowing springs around the ridge was one of the main considerations for Cahnd Rajas to establish the capital there in 1560. In Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal small tanks were constructed to allow the spring water to accumulate and these were subsequently covered with a roof. These structures are called as ‘Naula’ in Uttaranchal. Names might vary, but the objective was clear to our forefathers; conserve water.
Apart from ‘Naulas’ the other methods of water harvesting in Uttaranchal include ‘Dharas’, ‘Panderas’, ‘Mangras’, ‘Khals’, ‘Chals’, ‘Guhls’ and ‘Gharats’. It is interesting to note that a ‘Naula’ becomes a ‘Dhara’ when an oulet is provided. ‘Guhls’ are same as ‘Kuhls’ of Himachal Pradesh. Water from a river or a stream is diverted into a narrow drain ‘Guhl’ at a point much higher than the village or fields. Water is thus transported long distances by gravity. In Himachal Pradesh the village ‘engineer’ or ‘Kohli’ repaired the temporary bund of boulders and the channel (Kuhl) to the fields before the beginning of the sowing season. ‘Kohli’ also manages and ensures water supply to individual fields. ‘Gharats’ are the water mills common all over the world.
In addition to above in Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh ‘rectangular, deep pits are made on the hill slopes in hard rocks where rain water is collected. These are called ‘Khatris’ and traditional masons construct them. There are ‘Khatris’ that collect rain water from roof tops as well. Depending on terrain a ‘Khatri’ now costs around Rs 10 to 20, 000.
In the matter of water harvesting/conservation the traditional methods of even northeast were not lagging behind. A system to impound runoff, termed ‘Zabo’ is still in vogue in Nagaland. Rainwater is impounded on the highest terrace and as it trickles down it fills up ponds for the acttles in the middle level terraces and finally irrigates the lowest paddy growing terraces.
Ganga plains forming the huge agrarian belt of U.P., Bihar and west Bengal had a large number of ponds (locally termed as ‘Talab’, Talayya’, ‘Pokher’, ‘Pukur’ etc). These were either remnants of cut-off meanders of the rivers (Ox-bow lakes) or dug by the community. These were and still are the ideal harvesting structures. In Tikamgarh in M.P. and Udaipur in Rajasthan dried up smaller ponds were used for cultivating paddy Next season again the pond was available for harvesting water. Unfortunately in the urban areas such water bodies have been meticulously and systematically usurped by the land mafia and to some extent by the government as well in the name of ‘land development’.
In Western Rajasthan rainwater from roofs was directed into underground tanks. The statues of elephant at a lower level and horse at a higher level in some tanks of Jaiselmer worked as water level indicators. If water touched the elephant’s feet meant water will be available for the locality for two years. If the water level rose and touched the ears of the horse, indicated availability of water for five years. Despite being in desert Jaiselmer never had famine for more than five years in the history, says eminent waterman of India, Rajendra Singh. The forts of Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Golkunda and Bijapur in Andhra Pradesh and Aurangabad in Maharashtra still have underground baked earthen pipes and tunnels that transport water to distant tanks.
While surveying Mehrauli area for groundwater resources in 1966 author had observed three medium sized ponds with bore-wells. Within three decades the traces of ponds was obliterated. Similarly in Mellur area of Kolar district in Karnataka village ponds made on ‘Chettu’ or weathered granite held sufficient water for the population and also for luxuriant sugarcane crops. Now Mellur is a drought affected area.
In the contemporary circumstances rainwater is the only ray of hope for replenishing the groundwater reservoirs. Need of the hour is to use a mixture of wisdom of the ancestors and modern technical expertise and catch the water before it is lost into oblivion.

VK Joshi