On World Soil Day, Rajasthan’s traditional water systems offer climate change lessons

In the desert landscape of western Rajasthan, how communities use water has long depended on an intimate understanding of soil.

Water management systems such as khadeens, bavdi, beris, tankas, johads, naadi, naada and talab were built on a deep, practical knowledge of how soils behave in extreme aridity in the region characterised by low rainfall. Long before the language of “soil and moisture conservation”, “recharge”, “infiltration” entered policy vocabulary, localised systems of water harvesting were already in place.

Today, as India faces accelerating climate variability, land degradation, groundwater collapse and extreme heat, Rajasthan’s water systems are an urgent reminder and solution: soil health is water security.

On World Soil Day, the evolution of Rajasthan’s soil-water wisdom, how it shaped community stewardship and the importance of reviving these systems offer lessons on climate resilience.

Soil power

Contemporary watershed interventions, involving measures such as bunds and planting trees, are often standardised across landscapes, but traditional systems in Rajasthan have been able to harness soil types to conserve water. Each structure is designed around specific soil textures, salinity levels, and slopes making the most of local geomorphology.

For example, it is understood that sand particles do not coalesce like clay, which cracks when hardened allowing moisture to escape. Sand particles stay separate as their porosity is high and do not harden or fissure. Moisture that seeps into the sand dunes does not escape, but instead percolates and collects. As Arati Kumar Rao notes in her book Marginlands, “The heart of the dune, a few feet deep, is a water storing miracle.”

The subcutaneous layer of the desert is gypsum, a mineral with a calcium base. This hard layer holds the fresh rainwater and prevents it from sinking deep into the water table, which is often salty. This water, which is neither surface water nor fossil water is called rejwani pani. Communities often depend on this for consumption.

Across Rajasthan’s arid districts, a range of water-harvesting systems are shaped by this understanding of local soils and rainfall patterns.

In Jaisalmer and Barmer, farmers construct khadeens, which are large earthen embankments built across drainage lines. These 6km-7km-wide systems slow runoff during rare rains, allowing silt to settle and moisture to percolate into deeper layers, sustaining crops long after rainfall. Surplus water flows sequentially from one khadeen to another, creating a cascading recharge system.

Alwar and Shekhawati districts rely on johads, which are small earthen reservoirs, primarily. By slowing runoff, they enhance silt deposition, enrich downstream fields, and recharge wells through steady percolation supported by vegetation and intact soil structure.

Western Rajasthan’s beris are traditional percolation wells that tap shallow aquifers. Constructed near ponds or within johad catchments, they recharge naturally through seepage. Their mineral-rich sediments filter water, while careful protection of surrounding soil ensures purity and continued recharge.

Tankas, or underground storage tanks fed by micro-catchments, are common in Bikaner, Phalodi, and Barmer. Tankas maximise runoff from small rainfall events for drinking water. Their compacted catchments and covered design reduce seepage and contamination,

Finally, nadis, or small natural depressions, collect rainwater in sloping terrain, with overflow outlets managing excess and helping water persist longer in western Rajasthan.

Community practice

The sacred rule of the desert is that you do not deny anyone water.

Rajasthan’s water systems are embedded in local ethics and institutions, with each village being planned around water. Local grazing regulations prevent soil erosion around recharge zones. Village commons are protected to maintain vegetation that stabilises slopes with rules for silt removal, embankment repairs and seasonal maintenance. Digging and water conservation is a community effort, in which all would participate.

Oral traditions encode soil knowledge such as when to open spillways, where seepage indicates healthy recharge and how soil colour signals salinity.

Following these systems, each village has access to three types of water:

i) palar pani, which is surface water harvested from rain on the aagor ,or catchment

ii) rejwani pani, which is percolated, or capillary water siphoned by beris

iii) patali pani, or the deep water table reached by the wells

This way, no single source will get overused and run dry.

Which water gets used when is governed by a natural cycle: once the lakes dry up, beris come into play in the deepest part of the Thar where there is no underlying gypsum layer that can hold water, making the well a lifeline.

Future of traditional systems

Today, Rajasthan’s soil-water relationship is under strain. Land degradation from development, improper agricultural practices, mining and mechanisation has destabilised the delicate balance of runoff and infiltration. Excess groundwater extraction has altered recharge dynamics, leaving beris and johads dry.

Intense rainfall has also overwhelmed traditional systems, accelerating erosion.

Urbanisation and land-use change have severed communities from the landscapes that once sustained them. The standardisation of watershed techniques affects water and soil if not done appropriately. The resulting loss of traditional knowledge means that fewer people understand soil properties that make these systems work.

Strengthening existing localised and traditional forms of watershed management could do wonders for preventing water scarcity.

Climate resilience, indigenous knowledge

As climate change intensifies drought cycles and heat stress, soil is the frontline of resilience. Healthy soils slow runoff, store moisture, buffer crops against drought, and recharge aquifers. They also enhance water quality through natural filtration while supporting biodiversity that stabilises ecosystems. In arid areas, soil determines whether water survives long enough for people and livestock to access it. In Rajasthan, soil conservation is water security.

The renewed interest in nature-based solutions is an opportunity to bring Rajasthan’s traditional systems into contemporary policy. Restoring khaadeens, johads and tankaas can enhance groundwater recharge at greater scale while participatory soil conservation can revive traditional stewardship practices.

Integrating indigenous knowledge into watershed and soil-health missions, such as the Watershed Development Component- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana that focuses on improving degraded lands, can create more adaptive, context-sensitive interventions. Linking soil restoration with climate adaptation planning can support agriculture, drinking water security, and rural livelihoods simultaneously.

On World Soil Day, Rajasthan’s water systems show that soil health is integral to building climate resilience. Rajasthan’s traditional communities understood scientific techniques for water conservation. Reviving this wisdom can be an important investment in a climate change future.

Sanjana Nair is policy analyst and Karni Singh Bithoo is Project Manager at the Centre for Policy Design, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment.

December 5 is World Soil Day.