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 old water supply systems could
constitute an additional source of supply.
The present chapter questions the rationale of the rehabilitation of rainwater harvesting systems and the state of knowledge associated with their use. In the early 2000s, a number of projects aiming at rehabilitating traditional housing to improve the living conditions of inhabitants were initiated in few old cities in Gujarat.
Using the example of Ahmedabad, this chapter aims at describing the state of rainwater harvesting as an 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 underground rainwater harvesting 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 users to benefit from an additional water supply, the knowledge associated with its use and maintenance remains confined to certain castes and communities. 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:To what extent do they constitute an additional source of supply? How does the users incorporate them into a socio-technical context characterized by a multitude of supply systems? The second set of questions relates to the local knowledge associated with the construction and use of cisterns:What is its nature? How is this knowledge maintained, transmitted or integrated into existing social balances? Which social groups participate in its revival?
Full book: link coming soon
