Page 2 - 2.Lesson Notes-Water Harvesting, Coal and Petroleum

Traditional water Harvesting Methods
Local communities have used hundreds of indigenous water saving methods to
capture every trickle of water that had fallen on their land; dug small pits and
lakes, put in place simple watershed systems, built small earthen dams,
constructed dykes, sand and limestone reservoirs, set up rooftop water-collecting
units. This has recharged groundwater levels and even brought rivers back to life.

1. Kulhs in Himachal Pradesh:
 Parts of Himachal Pradesh had evolved a local system of canal irrigation
called kulhs over four hundred years ago.
 The water flowing in the streams was diverted into man-made channels which
took this water to numerous villages down the hillside.
 The management of the water flowing in these kulhs was by common
agreement among all the villages. Interestingly, during the planting season,
water was first used by the village farthest away from the source of the kulh,
then by villages progressively higher up.
 These kulhs were managed by two or three people who were paid by the
villagers.
 In addition to irrigation, water from these kulhs also percolated into the soil
and fed springs at various points.
 After the kulhs were taken over by the Irrigation Department, most of them
became defunct and there is no amicable sharing of water as before.

(Kulhs of Himachal Pradesh)
2. Khadin system:
 It is a traditional rainwater harvesting system for agriculture in Rajasthan.
 It consists of a very long earthen embankment down the slope of the
catchment areas which helps in retaining run off water.
 A shallow well is often dug behind the embankment to store extra overflowing
water.
 The stored water slowly percolates down into the ground. The area is then
used for growing crops and for vegetation.

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