Write the features of the tanks built in the houses of Phalodi and Barmer.
Or
Discuss how rainwater harvesting in semi-arid regions of Rajasthan is carried out.
‘Rolf top rainwater harvesting’ was commonly practiced to store drinking water, especially in semi-arid and arid regions, like Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer in Rajasthan.
- In semi-arid and arid regions, all the houses had underground tanks or ‘tankas’ for storing drinking water built inside the house. They were the part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system.
- The tanks could be as large as a big room. One household in Phalodi had a tank that was 6.1 metres deep, 4.27 metres long and 2.44 metres wide.
- The tanks were built inside the main house or the courtyard.
- The tanks were connected to the sloping roofs of the houses as .rough a pipe. The falling rain would travel down the pipes and get stored in the.ur -.erground ‘tankas’. The first spell of rain would not be collected as it cleaned the laof and pipes. The rainwater from subsequent showers was collected.
- Many houses constructed underground rooms adjoining the tanka to beat the summer heat as it would keep the room cool.