Suggest measures to purchase water level over the Deccan plateau
Answers
The Ramtek model has been named after water harvesting structures in the town of Ramtek, Maharashtra. A scientific analysis revealed an intricate network of groundwater and surface waterbodies, intrinsically connected through surface and underground canals. A fully evolved system, this model harvested runoff through tanks, supported by high yielding wells and structures like baories, kundis, and waterholes. This system, intelligently designed to utlise every raindrop falling in the watershed area is disintegrating due to neglect and ignorance.
Constructed and maintained mostly by malguzars (landowners), these tanks form a chain, extending from the foothills to the plains, conserving about 60-70 per cent of the total runoff. Once tanks located in the upper reaches close to the hills were filled to capacity, the water flowed down to fill successive tanks, generally through interconnecting channels. This sequential arrangement generally ended in a small waterhole to store whatever water remained unstored.
The presence of the Ramtek ridge in the middle, having a steep slope on both sides, results in quick runoffs and little percolation. This might have led the residents of the southern plains of the Ramtek hills to construct different types of water conservation structures (like tanks) where they could trap the maximum