Water Harvesting: The Ancient Typologies That Sustain Us

Water Harvesting: The Ancient Typologies That Sustain Us

The 22nd of March 2022 saw the twenty-ninth commemoration of World Water Day – as a worldwide water crisis continues to leave populations vulnerable. It is an extremely multi-faceted issue. Governance sadly determines water accessibility, with marginalized people disproportionally affected. Urban typologies are another factor. The over-pumping of groundwater sources to meet the water demands of Hanoi, for instance, has resulted in arsenic being drawn into Vietnam’s village wells.

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Interlinked with policies at the governmental level are the many examples of traditional water infrastructures that have sustained communities for generations. These ancient water harvesting, water conservation, and water management techniques realized into built form across cultures offer useful frameworks towards cultivating a more water-accessible future. 

The most visible and elaborate examples of water-harvesting infrastructure are arguably found in the Indian subcontinent, in the form of stepwells. It is a straightforward concept – an architectural form excavated several stories underground so as to reach a level where the soil is always saturated with water. Flights of stairs – hence the name – would be constructed for access down to the water from ground level. Stepwells made in drought-prone areas of India would provide water all year round, vital access to water storage and irrigation systems.

Most interestingly though, step-wells did not only have a utilitarian purpose. In addition to providing water access, stepwells such as the Chand Baori in Rajasthan also functioned as social spaces. They provided a welcome relief from the heat and acted as important sites for religious events. Centuries of neglect and falling water tables, rendered them abandoned, with the British government in India also overseeing their destruction after deeming stepwells as unhygienic.

Typologies such as stepwells, however, are not only artifacts of the past. They are as useful, and needed, in a twenty-first-century context. In Rajasthan, several stepwells have been restored, allowing cultural landmarks to occupy the important roles they once had. Toorji’s Stepwell in Jodhpur was restored relatively recently and is an apt example of a communal regeneration project. Daily maintenance is done by volunteers, and it has become a popular area for both swimming and bathing.

Partnerships between global design firms and social entrepreneurs have led to the implementation of projects in the form of rainwater collection tanks – more practical solutions to a pressing problem. The restoration of stepwells, however, has been given high priority, and this prioritization highlights the intrinsic value of restoring projects that have both a practical and symbolic meaning to a community.

Stepwells, though, are concentrated over a relatively smaller area, and there are water infrastructure solutions that exist amidst a wider network. This year, the World Monuments Fund added the Yanacancha-Huaquis Cultural Landscape in Peru to their Watch List – and this site emphasizes the lasting power of some of these solutions.

Located across the Cañete river, this landscape is home to an extensive network of channels, reservoirs, and dams – used to retain, divert and filter spring water for the irrigation of pastures and fields. Dating back to the 10th and 14th centuries, this network provided effective water management for communities across the Cañete River basin. In present day, most of this infrastructure has been largely abandoned.

Since 2013 however, the rural community of Miraflores, Instituto de Montaña, the Nor Yauyos Cochas Landscape Reserve, and IUCN have been collaborating to preserve this landscape. The collaborative approach is an appropriate one taking in mind the sensitive nature of the site, with a “grey and green” system being used, a hybrid of grey (constructed) and green (from nature) solutions.

What is particularly admirable about this approach is the small carbon footprint – with new built interventions making up only a small percentage of the overall project. For instance, the Yanacancha wetland area has been expanded and re-fenced with more water-resistant posts that are more durable, also protecting the wetlands from overgrazing. In some cases, restoration necessitated the rehabilitation of abandoned canals and wells so they would collect rainfall. Hybrid solutions were similarly minimal – with PVC pipes being installed alongside ancient stone systems in order to carry rainwater to pasture lands.

The reviving of these ancient technologies in the Peruvian Andes has resulted in the improved availability of local water and allowed herders to have larger areas to rotate feeding their livestock. This revitalization has also meant that the surrounding ecosystem is also more resilient to climate change.

In Peru’s capital, about 1.5 million people are not connected to the drinking water grid or sewage system. Many poorer households in Lima also exclusively depend on tanker trucks for their water. In India, around half the population face severe water shortages daily. The stepwells of Rajasthan and the irrigation canals of the Peruvian Andes, albeit indirectly, are integral solutions in alleviating wider water concerns in both countries. These two technologies underline the long-lasting impacts of ancient water management systems, and how much they still have an important part to play in making the world more liveable today.