What is rainwater harvesting ? How was it used in ancient times ?
(1) Rainwater harvesting is a technique of increasing the recharge of groundwater by capturing and storing rainwater by constructing structures, such as dugwells, percolation pits, checkdams. (2) Keeping into view the disadvantages and rising resistance against the multi-purpose projects, water harvesting system is considered a viable alternative both socio-economically and environmentally. (3) Ancient Times : 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. They had 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 hilly and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or ‘kuls’ of the western Himalayas for agriculture. Rooftop rainwater harvesting wras commonly practised to store drinking water. In the flood plains 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. In Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer, almost all the houses had underground tanks for storing drinking water.
