India has an ancient tradition of water management system from more than 5000 years and over centuries. The testament to the collection of monsoon rainwater through reservoirs and wells can be seen in the Indus Valley civilization (3000-1500 BC). Mohenjodaro, the largest city belonging to Harappa culture had over open wells. The people of India possessed remarkable skills in the construction of dams, lakes, and tanks since old age. Their knowledge and expertise in water conservation systems enabling them to conceive and implement more improved structures to effectively captured, held, and stored the precious monsoon rainwater. These systems were carefully designed to ensure a sustainable water supply during the dry seasons that followed. As the long sustainability, simplicity to built and use, more eco friendly and less explosiveness, some ancient structure of water management are functioning even today. Since last 70 years, construction of deep tube wells or bore wells, water abstraction devices and pumping methods have made large scale exploitation of ground water to fulfil the water demand. The major source of water supply, ground water is depleting and cause water scarcity. This study aims to explore the ancient water management planning, tradition and techniques to review, conserve, revive and expand this old wisdom for the benefit of all.

Keywords: Water management, Water Scarcity, Water conservation, Natural Resource, Population Growth.

🔒 This is a subscription article

Full text is available to subscribers and institutional members. Please choose an option below to access it.

1. Bhagle, P and Bhavsar, C. (2007) Water management in arid and semi arid zone: Traditional wishdom. Intenational History seminar on irrigation and Drainage, Tehran Iran pp 423-428.
2. Bansod, N.K. (2005). Design and Development of A System of Ground Water Recharging. Unpublished master’s (M.Tech.) thesis, Deptt. of Civil Engineering, Govt. Engineering College, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, (C.G.).
3. Chandel, R.S. and Sharma, M.R. (2014). Potential and limits of Domestic Rooftop Water Harvesting in Una Area of Shiwalik Hills (http://ajabs.org/ajabs/04Chandel.pdf accessed on 23.04.2016)
4. Dagwal, S.P., Swami, R.M. and Patil, Y. (2016). Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting-a case study, IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 13(3), VII, pp 73-76 (http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jmce/papers/Vol13-issu3/Version-7/k1303077376.pdf accessed on 27.8.16)
5. Murthy R.N.S., Srikonda, R., Kashinath, I.V. (2022) Traditional Water Management Systems of India, Journal of the International Society for the Study of Vernacular Settlements2(9), pp 61-77
6. Rangwala, S.C. (1984). Fundamentals of Water Supply and Sanitary Engineering, Anand, India: Charotar Publishing house.
7. Umamani, K.S. and Manasi, S. (2013). Rainwater Harvesting Initiative in Banglore City: Problems and Prospects Retrieved October 17, 2016 from http://www.isec.ac.in/ WP%20302%20-%20Umamani% 20and% 20Manasi.pdf
8. Shetty ST, Dhumale S, Shetty A, Tola SY. Characterization of the Surface Lake and Evaluation of Its Benefits on Unconfined Aquifer Interaction—A Study on Coastal Karnataka Lake, India. Water Conservation Science and Engineering. 2024 June; 9(1):1-21.
9. Angelakis AN, Asano T, Bahri A, Jimenez BE, Tchobanoglous G. Water reuse: from ancient to modern times and the future. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 2018 May 11;6:26.
10. Weerahewa J, Timsina J, Wickramasinghe C, Mimasha S, Dayananda D, Puspakumara G. Ancient irrigation systems in Asia and Africa: Typologies, degradation and ecosystem services. Agricultural Systems. 2023 Feb 1;205:103580.

India has an ancient tradition of water management system from more than 5000 years and over centuries. The testament to the collection of monsoon rainwater through reservoirs and wells can be seen in the Indus Valley civilization (3000-1500 BC). Mohenjodaro, the largest city belonging to Harappa culture had over open wells. The people of India possessed remarkable skills in the construction of dams, lakes, and tanks since old age. Their knowledge and expertise in water conservation systems enabling them to conceive and implement more improved structures to effectively captured, held, and stored the precious monsoon rainwater. These systems were carefully designed to ensure a sustainable water supply during the dry seasons that followed. As the long sustainability, simplicity to built and use, more eco friendly and less explosiveness, some ancient structure of water management are functioning even today. Since last 70 years, construction of deep tube wells or bore wells, water abstraction devices and pumping methods have made large scale exploitation of ground water to fulfil the water demand. The major source of water supply, ground water is depleting and cause water scarcity. This study aims to explore the ancient water management planning, tradition and techniques to review, conserve, revive and expand this old wisdom for the benefit of all.

Keywords: Water management, Water Scarcity, Water conservation, Natural Resource, Population Growth.

🔒 This is a subscription article

Full text is available to subscribers and institutional members. Please choose an option below to access it.

1. Bhagle, P and Bhavsar, C. (2007) Water management in arid and semi arid zone: Traditional wishdom. Intenational History seminar on irrigation and Drainage, Tehran Iran pp 423-428.
2. Bansod, N.K. (2005). Design and Development of A System of Ground Water Recharging. Unpublished master’s (M.Tech.) thesis, Deptt. of Civil Engineering, Govt. Engineering College, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, (C.G.).
3. Chandel, R.S. and Sharma, M.R. (2014). Potential and limits of Domestic Rooftop Water Harvesting in Una Area of Shiwalik Hills (http://ajabs.org/ajabs/04Chandel.pdf accessed on 23.04.2016)
4. Dagwal, S.P., Swami, R.M. and Patil, Y. (2016). Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting-a case study, IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 13(3), VII, pp 73-76 (http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jmce/papers/Vol13-issu3/Version-7/k1303077376.pdf accessed on 27.8.16)
5. Murthy R.N.S., Srikonda, R., Kashinath, I.V. (2022) Traditional Water Management Systems of India, Journal of the International Society for the Study of Vernacular Settlements2(9), pp 61-77
6. Rangwala, S.C. (1984). Fundamentals of Water Supply and Sanitary Engineering, Anand, India: Charotar Publishing house.
7. Umamani, K.S. and Manasi, S. (2013). Rainwater Harvesting Initiative in Banglore City: Problems and Prospects Retrieved October 17, 2016 from http://www.isec.ac.in/ WP%20302%20-%20Umamani% 20and% 20Manasi.pdf
8. Shetty ST, Dhumale S, Shetty A, Tola SY. Characterization of the Surface Lake and Evaluation of Its Benefits on Unconfined Aquifer Interaction—A Study on Coastal Karnataka Lake, India. Water Conservation Science and Engineering. 2024 June; 9(1):1-21.
9. Angelakis AN, Asano T, Bahri A, Jimenez BE, Tchobanoglous G. Water reuse: from ancient to modern times and the future. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 2018 May 11;6:26.
10. Weerahewa J, Timsina J, Wickramasinghe C, Mimasha S, Dayananda D, Puspakumara G. Ancient irrigation systems in Asia and Africa: Typologies, degradation and ecosystem services. Agricultural Systems. 2023 Feb 1;205:103580.