This article is the chapter 7 of the book Accessing water in the South Asian City, Primus books, Delhi, Keller S. [ed] (2025)
In situations of water shortage, the rehabilitation of infrastructures and old water supply systems could constitute a complementary source of supply.
The present chapter questions both the utility of their rehabilitation and the state of knowledge associated with their use. In the 2000s, several projects to rehabilitate ‘traditional’ housing to improve the living conditions of inhabitants in some of the old cities in Gujarat took place.
Using the example of Ahmedabad this chapter aims to describe the state of this ancient technique that fell into disuse under British rule.
This research assesses its potential for reintegration in the light of continued water storage practices and of the knowledge associated with its use.
The tanka, a traditional urban water system, is at odds with a modernity epitomized by the individual tap despite the unreliability of the municipal water supply service. If these cisterns would allow its user to benefit from an additional water supply, the knowledge associated with its use remains confined to certain castes and communities that followed the practice of using and maintaining them. Beyond them, a reappropriation of these underground structures by weaker sections of the society remains a challenge given their rehabilitation cost.
Two series of questions illustrate the point: the first concerns the place of cisterns in the city’s overall supply systems:
Full book: link coming soon
