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Achieving Rural Water Security Through Traditional Knowledge: A Comprehensive Appraisal of Traditional Water Harvesting Techniques Used in Dry Lands of Purulia District, West Bengal, India

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Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster Risk Reduction

Part of the book series: Disaster Risk Reduction ((DRR))

Abstract

Water security concerns the sufficient availability of equitable access to water for humans and the ecosystem. Drylands are the worst geographical region affected by chronic seasonal drought and water crises due to their geo-climatic condition. Purulia district of West Bengal state in India has a long history of seasonal drought and summer water crisis which calls for some adaptive measures to sustain the water-secured future. The district has a unique identity with its significant concentration of indigenous communities who have been practicing different traditional resilient techniques to prevent the risk of water insecurity. This chapter highlights these traditional adaptive measures practiced by different indigenous communities in the district. Based on the secondary data sources and primary data collection through the focus group discussion (FGD) in different villages, we have thoroughly assessed the traditional water harvesting technologies for different purposes. This study also attempts to present the theoretical foundation of nature-based resource conservation and multi-level policy-driven approaches for securing water in the dry land rural setup. The result shows different levels of water harvesting systems in the district for multiple usages ranging from domestic usage to irrigation purposes on one side and the multiple government policy-driven approach on another for a secure water future for dry land rural development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

    Surajit Kar

  2. Department of Geography, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Purulia, India

    JibanbandhuGayak

  3. Department of Geography, Kotshila Mahavidyalaya, Purulia, India

    Khalid Raja Khan

  4. Deprtment of Geography, UGC-HRDC, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

    Lakshminarayan Satpati

  5. Department of Physical Geography, Institute of Geographical Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Malteserstr. 74-100, 12249, Berlin, Germany

    Subham Mukherjee

  6. Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 9190501, Jerusalem, Israel

    Subham Mukherjee

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  1. Surajit Kar
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  2. JibanbandhuGayak
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  3. Khalid Raja Khan
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  4. Lakshminarayan Satpati
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  5. Subham Mukherjee
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Correspondence to Surajit Kar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, KISS Deemed University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Gopal Krishna Panda

  2. Department of Geography, Bhatter College, Dantan, Paschim Medinipore, West Bengal, India

    Uday Chatterjee

  3. Department of Geography, Haringhata Mahavidyalaya, Nadia, India

    Nairwita Bandyopadhyay

  4. Research Center for Oceanography, National Research and Innovation Agency, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Martiwi Diah Setiawati

  5. Department of Geography, Prafulla Chandra College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Debarpita Banerjee

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Kar, S., JibanbandhuGayak, Khan, K.R., Satpati, L., Mukherjee, S. (2023). Achieving Rural Water Security Through Traditional Knowledge: A Comprehensive Appraisal of Traditional Water Harvesting Techniques Used in Dry Lands of Purulia District, West Bengal, India. In: Panda, G.K., Chatterjee, U., Bandyopadhyay, N., Setiawati, M.D., Banerjee, D. (eds) Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster Risk Reduction. Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26143-5_16

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