Why are different water harvesting systems considered a viable alternative to both socioeconomically and environmentally in a country like India

(i) ln ancient lndia, along with sophisticated hydraulic structures, there existed an extraordinary tradition of rainwater harvesting system.
(ii) People had in depth knowledge of rainfall regimes and soil types and developed a wide range of rainwater harvesting techniques to harvest groundwater, rainwater river water and flood water in keeping with the local ecological conditions and their water needs.
(iii) For example, the hilly and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like ‘guts’ or ‘kuls’ of western himalayas for agriculture. Rooftop harvesting is practised in Rajasthan to store drinking water. In West Bengal people developed inundation channels to divert flood waters to irrigate their fields. In semi arid and arid regions of Rajasthan agricultural lands 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.