Feature

pubs.acs.org/est

Monsoon Harvests: The Living Legacies of Rainwater Harvesting

Systems in South India
Kimberly J. Van Meter,† Nandita B. Basu,*,†,‡ Eric Tate,§ and Joseph Wyckoff§
†
University of Waterloo, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
‡
University of Waterloo, Department of Civil Engineering, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
§
University of Iowa, Department of Geography, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
of the 20th century,8 it is currently experiencing a revival.
Organizations ranging from small nongovernmental organiza-
tions (NGOs) to the World Bank are now heavily investing in
the renovation of these small-scale water-storage structures in
the pursuit of increased water availability and more sustainable
livelihoods.9,10 RWH in India is estimated to have the potential
to add as much as 125 km3/year to the current water supply,
making it central to many plans to meet the country’s projected
midcentury water shortfall of over 300 km3/year.11 Indeed, in
2005 India revealed its Groundwater Recharge Master Plan,
which called for the renovation or new construction of a variety
of RWH structures, including the village tanks of South India,
at a cost of approximately $6 billion.12
Rainwater harvesting, a “soft path” approach toward water Many researchers and development professionals now
management, is increasingly recognized as a key strategy toward suggest that small-scale water solutions are the most cost-
ensuring food security and alleviating problems of water
effective, efficient, and environmentally neutral means of
scarcity. Interestingly this “modern” approach has been in use
meeting demand in water-stressed regions. 13−15 These
for millennia in numerous older civilizations. This article uses
solutions fall under the rubric of the "soft path" approach to
India as a case study to explore the social, economic, and
water management, in which existing large-scale projects are
environmental dimensions of agricultural rainwater harvesting
complemented by small-scale, decentralized solutions.16 Ini-
ponds, and evaluates the viability of these centuries-old systems
tiatives including such soft-path approaches extend beyond
under current climate and population pressures. A holistic
India, with the revival of traditional RWH systems from China
watershed-scale approach that accounts for trade-offs in water
to the Middle East,17,18 and the transfer of RWH technologies
availability and socioeconomic wellbeing is recommended for
to water-stressed areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa with no long-
assessing the sustainability of these systems.
term history of RWH.19 Numerous international forums have
1. INTRODUCTION identified RWH as an integral component in interventions
Lack of consistent water availability for irrigated agriculture is necessary to meet Millennium Development Goals,20 and there
now recognized as one of the primary constraints to meeting has been widespread adoption of RWH systems for
UN Millennium Development Goals to alleviate hunger, and supplemental irrigation in semiarid areas of Kenya, Ethiopia,
multiple studies indicate that by 2025 all countries will face and Ghana, to name only a few.19,21 Even in the U.S. there has
some form of water stress.1,2 Water shortages promise to been growing interest in the use of RWH for a range of
become more acute as population pressures increase, with purposes, from reducing stormwater runoff and preventing
current projections indicating a 21% increase in global water watershed pollution,22 to augmenting water supply during
consumption for grain production by 2050. Particularly in
3,4 drought years.23
semiarid landscapes with high seasonal rainfall variability, Although stories abound in India of successful renovations of
significant correlations have been found between a lack of RWH ponds, with whole villages reportedly being revitalized
surface water storage, reduced food security and poor economic after years of extreme water stress, the extent to which this
development. 5−7 centuries-old technology can fundamentally address problems
To meet the demand for seasonal water storage, village-level of water scarcity has been called into question.9 The
rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems have been in use in India assumption of those funding the renovation seems to be that
for millennia. In the agricultural areas of South India, where we social and economic benefits will accrue at the village scale as
focus our study, these structures have commonly taken the overall water availability increases.24 But can RWH truly
form of large (20−40 ha) earthen impoundments, referred to as increase water availability at the basin scale? In the face of
climate change and population pressures, does utilization of
“tanks,” that can collect water during the monsoon season,
these ancient technologies represent the best path toward
making surface water stores available to farmers for irrigation.
solving problems of water scarcity?
Although the use of RWH systems began to decline in India
with the building of large-scale irrigation structures under
Published: February 27, 2014
British colonial rule and with the groundwater pumping boom
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Figure 1. Components of rainwater harvesting systems in Tamil Nadu: (A) tank sluice at low water levels; (B) irrigated fields in tank command area;
(C) open well in tank command area with electric pump set; (D) community well next to large tank at high water levels; (E) statues of Hindu deities
on tank bund, protecting the tank; (F) goats grazing near dead storage area of tank; (H) tank systems, as seen via the remote sensing image, are
ubiquitous throughout the state.
Our objective herein is to explore the extent to which ancient of the tanks, however, is considered to extend well beyond that
RWH practices are applicable in the context of modern of a water source for agriculture. They are essentially human-
socioeconomic and environmental pressures. We use the South built ecosystems, providing economic, socio-cultural, and
Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with its long history of RWH, as an ecological services to their communities. Ecologically, these
example to address broader issues regarding the sustainability of tank systems make up an extensive, interconnected web of
RWH practices, not just in rapidly developing India, but also in
manmade wetlands providing a broad range of ecosystem
other water-scarce areas of the world. In particular, we explore
the ways in which RWH may impact basin-level water stores services, including flood control, nutrient and waste removal,
and fluxes, and how these impacts may contribute to shaping provision of avian habitat, and increased biodiversity of flora
the socioeconomic landscape within a closely coupled human and fauna. In Tamil Nadu alone, there are more than 39 000
and natural system. tanks supporting wetland biodiversity and adding significantly
to the country’s wetland wealth.26 Tanks also enhance
2. SOUTH INDIA’S RWH SYSTEMS: STRUCTURE AND groundwater recharge and increase stream baseflow,27 helping
FUNCTION to revive rivers that have been depleted by large-scale diversions
The RWH “tanks” of South India are formed via the for canal irrigation and other uses.
construction of earthen banks, or bunds, across natural Historically, tanks were central to settlement patterns in
depressions in the landscape to impound surface runoff South India: settlements grew up around temples, and over
(Figures 1 and 2). During monsoon rains, runoff from the time temples and tanks became nearly inseparable.28 In villages,
tank catchment area inundates the tank bed. Sluices are temples are often built directly into tank bunds, with statues of
constructed in the tank bund, each with a shutter that can be the deities positioned nearby to protect the tanks from harm
controlled to manage the outflow of water from the tank into
(Figure 1e). The tanks also provide social gathering places29
irrigation channels (Figure 1a) that route water to downstream
agricultural fields (Figure 1b), where wells may also be present and in many cases are considered sacred spaces, with traditional
to supplement tank irrigation (Figure 1c, d). Tanks are often rituals such as Hindu weddings and burial ceremonies taking
linked in cascades (Figure 1g, Figure 2), with overflow from place there.30 In daily village life, tanks continue to have
upstream tanks spilling over into surplus channels leading to multiple uses, providing water for drinking and the laundering
downstream tanks or nearby waterways. The tank cascades, of clothes, a grazing area for livestock (Figure 1f), trees for fuel
which can encompass anywhere from several to more than a wood, and silt to be used as a fertilizer.31,32 The varied uses of
hundred tanks, create a hydrological network across the the tanks serve to strengthen the economic base of surrounding
landscape, providing points of connection not just between
communities,33 with per capita incomes in some areas
individual tanks, but also small farm ponds, wells, and rivers.
The tank irrigation systems of Tamil Nadu support an increasing more than 50% after tank rehabilitation projects. 34
agricultural area covering 61% of the state,25 and allow for the Conversely, tank decline has been found to result in reduced
growth of subsistence crops like rice, as well as market crops incomes, with these reductions being borne disproportionately
such as maize, sugar cane, and chili peppers. The functionality by marginalized members of the community.35

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Figure 2. Major elements of a typical tank irrigation system are shown, note the horseshoe shape of the bund and the water pooling behind it.

3. LIVING LEGACIES: HISTORY AND CURRENT STATE availability of diesel and electric pumpset technology and rural
OF RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS IN TAMIL electrification,33,39 led to dramatic increases in the number of
NADU irrigation wells in Tamil Nadu, from an estimated 50 000 in
1905 to a documented 229 394 in 1971.40 The increased access
The ancient RWH structures of South India have persisted,
to irrigation water has been a boon to economic development
essentially unmodified, into the present day, making them living
and agricultural productivity in India, with yields 1.2−3 times
legacies of early farmers’ triumphs over the harsh, semiarid greater in areas irrigated by groundwater.41 However, increased
environment. Evidence of tank irrigation in Tamil Nadu dates groundwater use has also led to alarming levels of groundwater
back to the Sangam period of 150 BC to 200 AD,36 and by the depletion (Figure 3a).42,43 In Tamil Nadu, recent estimates by
early medieval period (750−1300), tank irrigation was thriving the government Central Ground Water Board suggest that
throughout the region. Archaeological and historical records more than a third of Tamil Nadu’s groundwater resources are
indicate a correlation between periods of prolonged drought overexploited,44 with the annual groundwater draft exceeding
and developments in RWH practices.37 For example, after a the mean annual recharge (Figure 3b). Of the estimated 1.8
period of many severe monsoon failures from AD 505−550 was million groundwater wells in Tamil Nadu, approximately 12%
written the Brihat Samhita, an encyclopedic work providing are dried up or abandoned due to overexploitation, and in some
extensive advice regarding the construction of tanks. areas well failure rates are greater than 40%.45,46
The historic reliance on tank irrigation systems in Tamil In response to these changes, the area irrigated by tanks has
Nadu began to wane during India’s colonial era (1757−1947), continued to decline, from an estimated 900 000 ha down to
and then declined even further in the late 1960s with the advent 500 000 ha (Figure 3c) over the last 40 years.47 The increased
of the Green Revolution.38 The British focused on large-scale reliance on groundwater has led to a frequent neglect of
irrigation projects such as the construction of large dams and traditional water governance organizations, and thus to declines
canal networks, often at the expense of village-based tank in tank maintenance. Many tanks have succumbed to structural
systems.8 The Green Revolution, accompanied by the increased failures and the encroachment of fields into tank beds,33 leading

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Figure 3. Groundwater withdrawals are shown as a percentage of recharge (a) across India (based on state-level estimates from the Indian
Ministry of Water Resources)43 and (b) in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (based on (district-level estimates from the Tamil Nadu Central
Ground Water Board).44 Figure 1 (c) shows the percentages of land irrigated by tanks and wells in relation to the total irrigated area, 3,4 with
canals and rivers accounting as additional irrigation sources. Note that the high levels of depletion within the state are a result of the expansion of
well irrigation, at the expense of traditional tank systems over the last 50 years.

to even less community-level investment in the tank systems leaving the sustainability of the village in doubt.49 With short-
and an overall devaluing of the commons resource. The decline term migration being a common adaptive response to water
in tank irrigation paired with virtually uncontrolled ground- scarcity, long-term shifts in water availability due to ground-
water depletion has led to a complex series of negative water depletion can lead to a decline in economic prospects and
environmental and socio-economic feedbacks, particularly for growing social instability at a regional scale.50
poor and marginal farmers, for whom loss of groundwater
resources has been directly correlated to a loss in food 4. RAINWATER HARVESTING AND THE WATER
security.42,48 While wealthier farmers may be able to afford the PORTRAIT
costs associated with ever-deeper wells, the poorest farmers, In the 12th century, King Parakramabahu of Sri Lanka, who
without access to groundwater and with decreasing availability oversaw the building of a massive network of rainwater
of tank irrigation water, may be unable to grow rice, the region’s harvesting reservoirs, famously proclaimed “Let no drop of
water-thirsty staple food crop. As a result, many may be forced water flow to the sea unused by man.”51 Such a strategy seems
to leave their land fallow and migrate to nearby urban centers, to parallel the intensive RWH programs currently being

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Figure 4. Representation of the coupled natural and human system of south Indian agriculture as a function of both natural and anthropogenic
drivers is depicted. The figure demonstrates how the complex web of feedbacks within this system can lead to unintended consequences. Tank
restoration increases food security, while concurrently reducing income disparities (since even the poorest farmer has access to tank water), and
increasing social equity. From an environmental perspective, tank restoration also can increase local groundwater recharge and thus increase
environmental flows. Restoration projects are therefore being heavily promoted in India as a sustainable alternative. Problematically, however, the
increased recharge and rising groundwater levels often trigger increased pumping (represented as bidirectional arrows between pumping and GW
levels), which coupled with increased surface water depletion by irrigation and greater evaporation losses, can ultimately lead to reductions in
environmental flows.

developed within India. The question remains, however, as to regional flow standards. In India, with its semiarid climate and
whether this approach indeed provides a sustainable alternative intensive use of water, rivers are in many areas dry in most
in the modern world. To answer this question it is necessary to years,9,53 and estuaries and mangrove wetlands along the coasts
understand how RWH alters the water portrait (stores and are becoming increasingly saline due to reduced freshwater
fluxes) within a basin, and how the water portrait shapes the inflows.54 Ideally, water management plans, including those
social landscape. An obvious but perhaps overlooked fact of involving RWH, should be designed to ensure that environ-
RWH is that it does not increase the overall water availability mental flows to estuaries are maintained even in the driest
within a basin, as sometimes touted, but merely alters the years, and that only “excess” water is allocated for irrigation use.
distribution of water between upstream and downstream users, Next, the “excess” water must be allocated within a
and between socioeconomic and environmental demands. The watershed, taking into account the many different trade-offs.
result is a trade-off of water availability, and any proper Studies indicate that increases in the number of RWH systems
evaluation of a RWH system requires understanding, leads to decreases in water availability in downstream reservoirs,
quantifying, and prioritizing these multiple uses based on and a consequent increase in upstream-downstream conflicts,
local and regional needs. especially in the drier years.19 Furthermore, in semiarid
Fundamentally, any such evaluation must first consider the landscapes like South India, the high surface area-to volume
central trade-off between maintaining environmental water ratio of the RWH tanks can lead to large evaporative losses,
flows and harnessing these flows for human use. Recent work creating a pathway for net water depletion from the basin.55
has framed this consideration of environmental flows in terms Although environmental benefits can accrue from increased
of what are referred to as the ecological limits of hydrologic recharge, which increases groundwater levels and potentially
alteration (ELOHA).52 Establishing the boundaries of such sustains baseflows in streams over longer periods,52 whether or
ecological limits is essential to establishing ecologically based not recharge is a substantial benefit of the tanks is a function of

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the soil on which the tanks are constructed. RWH tanks hydrology) are indirect and entrenched determinants of water
constructed on clayey soils have been judged to be nearly 100% sustainability, and are represented by the outer two rings.
inefficient with regard to groundwater recharge, causing them Pressures are the specific processes produced by combinations
to act simply as evaporation pans.56,57 Modeling studies suggest of natural and human system drivers, and occupy the next inner
that the benefits of additional RWH structures at the watershed ring. The States and Impacts are collectively identified in the
scale may be minimal,55,56 with one recent study predicting that innermost ring, while Responses are societal actions intended to
increasing the number of RWH structures would decrease remedy impacts, and feed back to driving forces and pressures.
runoff within the basin by 60%, while increasing groundwater As an example of these dynamics, Figure 4 focuses on the
recharge by only 5%.58 This shift in the water balance appeared particular pressures of groundwater pumping and tank
to be primarily due to the increase in evapotranspiration caused management. Excessive pumping influences the State of the
by increased irrigation and changes in land use. CHANS attributes (e.g., increases in irrigated area and income,
Notwithstanding these factors, decentralized solutions like decreases in groundwater levels, and functionality arising from
rainwater harvesting do have benefits over traditional irrigation excessive reliance on groundwater extraction). Increased
systems. First, rainwater is used at the location where it falls on reliance on groundwater pumping also negatively impacts
the land, and thus the transmission losses associated with tank management practices, thus exerting additional pressure
extensive canal network systems are minimized. Second, RWH on the system state, and leading to a series of positive and
systems use rainwater, which has faster time scales of negative Impacts on the system (e.g., increases in income from
replenishment than groundwater, and thus can be considered increases in irrigated area, well failure from excessive ground-
to be a more sustainable source. Furthermore, water stored in a water depletion, reduced environmental flows from reduction
RWH tank is commonly distributed equitably between all in groundwater levels and recharge, and social inequity, as
villagers, in contrast to groundwater irrigation systems where groundwater wells can only be afforded by wealthier farmers).35
only the wealthier farmers have access to irrigation water.34 Finally, these Impacts lead to a series of Responses like the
Finally, as discussed above, the socioeconomic benefits engagement of NGOs and government organization in tank
provided by tanks extend beyond a source of irrigation water, rehabilitation to raise income levels of the poorest farmers, as
and economic returns from tanks have been found to more well as to mitigate excessive groundwater depletion. This
than double when considering multiple uses.33 network of cause and effect, as represented by the arrows in
Figure 4, provides merely one example of the complexity of the
5. RAINWATER HARVESTING AS A COUPLED HUMAN CHANS system, many other possible connections exist. While
AND NATURAL SYSTEM analyzing the entire realm of connections is beyond the scope
One of the most striking attributes of these millennia-old RWH of this feature article, it is necessary to acknowledge that a
systems is the close coupling that exists between the natural and proper analysis of RWH systems requires consideration of these
the human systems. Just as the climate and geomorphology of linkages and feedbacks.
the region have shaped the creation of these ancient water- These feedbacks contribute to the existence of thresholds,
delivery systems and the social practices that have grown up the notion that systems may fail in an abrupt, nonlinear fashion,
around them, the systems themselves have shaped the which is yet another attribute of CHANS systems. Thresholds
environment that we see today in South India, where rivers are notoriously difficult to identify in advance because sudden
run dry for years at a time, and invasive tree species colonize collapse may be preceded by a long period of gradual
the tank beds, tapping into reservoirs of shallow groundwater. degradation, reducing the perceived urgency to adapt.65 Steady
Such a close coupling of the human and natural systems is annual increases in groundwater pumping, and transitions to
intensified by the sheer longevity of these RWH tanks in water-intensive crops (Figure 4) may not be remarkable when
some cases they can be said to have existed with greater considered individually, but operating concurrently these
constancy than some natural ecological communities making pressures reduce the buffering capacity of the system to
it nearly impossible to separate this network of distributed external shocks. In the event of a prolonged drought, systematic
storage from the natural system in which it is embedded.59 well failure, or significant bund breach, the agricultural system
Accordingly, any consideration of rainwater harvesting as a of a village with a degraded tank is at much greater risk of
solution to current problems of groundwater depletion must collapse, with potentially serious long-term impacts to the
include an understanding of interacting social, economic, and livelihoods of people and the viability of the community.
ecological processes.
Tank systems are affected by an array of forces operating at 6. A WAY FORWARD: CAN RAINWATER HARVESTING
different geographic and administrative scales, with time lags ADDRESS PROBLEMS OF WATER SCARCITY?
between cause and effect, feedbacks between effect and cause, Globally, as water use continues to escalate, aquifers are
failure thresholds, and connections among environmental and depleted, and more than a third of the population is affected by
human components. These characteristics are emblematic of water scarcity, maintaining a stable water supply is perhaps
coupled human and natural systems (CHANS), an emerging more important than ever. As RWH is being revived or newly
interdisciplinary framework for analyzing the dynamics of adopted in many areas of the world to address the challenges of
complex systems.60,61 Figure 4 shows a conceptual model of the limited water availability,17,18,21,66,67 we must ask whether these
tank irrigation system that borrows from both the CHANS ancient technologies represent a sustainable alternative under
perspective and the Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact- modern socioeconomic and environmental pressures. The
Response (DPSIR) framework often applied to environmental answer is not simple, and requires understanding and
assessment and sustainable development.62−64 The model is quantifying the socioeconomic and environmental trade-offs
bounded by the human and natural driving forces that combine associated with these systems. For example, in areas such as
and interact to exert pressure on the tank system. The Driving Sub-Saharan Africa, where there might be a relative abundance
Forces (e.g., population, well technology, climate, and of unallocated water resources, but a lack of economic means to
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mobilize these resources, the low-cost, community-level water

storage provided by RWH can play a valuable role in increasing
■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is financially supported by the U.S. National
yields and improving food security for small and marginal Science Foundation (1211968), Dynamics of Coupled Natural-
farmers.19 In contrast, in basins for which no extra water Human Systems. We thank the DHAN Foundation for
resources are available to meet consumptive water demands, generously sharing their experiences, data, and hospitality.
the creation of new RWH structures can do little more than
change the spatial distribution of water, essentially providing a
downstream-to-upstream water transfer.9 From a socioeco-
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