Page 8 - Jan-Mar 2015

Water Harvesting Systems – Our Indigeneous Marvels

Water harvesting has been an age-old tradition in India. We may know it as a modern phenomenon but the truth is that
our ancestors were more advanced as far as water management was concerned. Water harvesting as a concept was very
common in India since ancient times. Vedas and other scriptures regularly documented about such practices.
Priyansh Aggarwal, VII C, Ryan International School, Sec. 40, Gurgaon

BEAUTIFUL BAOLIS JAMPOIS OF JALPAIGURI
stepwells, also called bawdi or baoli in hindi, Kalyani in in india there are many indigeneous water harvesting
Kannada, barav in Marathi, and Vav in gujarati, are wells or techniques which have been in existence since many
ponds in which the collected water is reached by descending years. in the Jalpaiguri district of west bengal, small
a set of steps. These stepwells are commonly found in western irrigation channels called Dungs or Jampois are used to
india and in some parts of north india. The architecture of bring water from streams to the rice fields.
these tanks can be simple but in some cases, they are found
to be embellished with beautiful sculptures and motifs. D. Pratik Koyalkar, X H, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Public School,
Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad
Shaili, X G, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Jubilee Hills,
Hyderabad
ZINGS OF LADAkH
The agrasen ki Baoli is a
unique stepwell in Delhi. Zings are tanks built for
it is protected by the collecting water from melted
archaeological survey of ice in ladakh. Channels are built
india. it is believed that the from glaciers to the tank. This
baoli was originally built by water is used for irrigation.
raja agrasen and was later
rebuilt in the 11 century
th
by the agarwal community. ZABOS OF NAGALAND
Three levels of the stepwell can be seen clearly.
Oshi Agarwal, IX, Suditi Global Academy, Etawah; Gauri Agarwal, VII C, Zabo is a traditional method of
Ryan International School, Sec. 40, Gurgaon impounding rainwater in a tank, practised
in Nagaland. in this system, the rainfall
Birkha Bawri is a man-made rainwater-harvesting stepwell which falls on the slopes of mountains is
in the umed bhawan of Jodhpur. it is a unique combination harvested and collected in ponds.
of a kund and a baoli. The baoli is about 224 metres long with
an average depth of 11 metres from ground level.
Ashish Verma, X, Pine Hall School, Dehradun TANkA TALE

Tankas are underground tanks
DESIGNER DONGS found in most households of
bikaner, rajasthan since many
in assam, dongs are traditional systems of water harvesting. centuries. They are made by making
The dongs have been in existence since 1930s and are among holes in the ground of a courtyard of the main house and
the oldest existing community water management systems are often decorated with tiles as they help in keeping the
in india. Dongs are ponds that were constructed by the bodo water cool. Tankas are still used to store water in traditional
tribe to harvest water for irrigation. households in the states of rajasthan and gujarat.
Satvika Reddy, IX E, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Jubilee Hills, N. Mounika Alekhya, X, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School,
Hyderabad Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad; Arun, VI, Sherwood Convent School,
Gurgaon

AcTIvITY - POT DRIP IRRIGATION

Pot drip irrigation can be introduced in schools. each class adopts few trees. a simple pot with a tiny
hole at the base is filled with fine clay (3-4 inc.) and water. The pot is then placed at the base of the tree
closer to the roots and it supplies water to the tree drop-by-drop. Don't forget to cover the pot with a lid!

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