Traditional rain water harvesting systems in Rajasthan: water resources conservation and its sustainable management – a review

Abstract

Communities all over the world have been endowed with the wisdom of indigenous technologies to collect the rain where it falls, so one can find such structures all around the world. The region of western Rajasthan in India faces frequent droughts and an acute shortages of water. This has compelled the local people to incorporate mechanisms to conserve water in their everyday life. These traditional methods have been developed over centuries and reflect the accumulated wisdom of many generations. An attempt has been made in this paper to undertake a detailed investigation of the various traditional water harvesting systems weaved in the social fabric of Rajasthan, that have been constructed using the indigenous knowledge and locally available material and are also significant for the state in present context to cope with drought.

Keywords: Traditional water harvesting, Johad, Rajasthan,  Thar Desert.