The arrival of monsoons means regular stagnation of rain water in residential areas for several cities in India. Even a small shower leads to water logging in big cities like Mumbai. It disrupts the routines of people. The rainy season, which is traditionally supposed to bring a lot of joy and merriment to common people, becomes a source of apprehension and anxiety to many people. This is because our civil engineers or city planners have overlooked the necessity of keeping the path of normal flow of water clear.
A popular Rajasthani proverb says that fire, water, snakes and rulers seldom compromise with their tendencies. Water tends to flow towards a lower plane. Our ancestors knew this and were prepared. They tackled flooding with two strategies. Either the surface run-off was stored in artificial water bodies for future use or the path of flow of water was kept unobstructed.
Take the case of Kota city of Rajasthan. Kota is widely known for the fabulous success of its coaching institutes in entrance examinations to top-ranking engineering and medical institutes of the country. Geographically, Kota is situated on the lowest part of the plateau of Hadouti. Whenever it rained on the upper part of the plateau, run-off would flow down, in accordance with gravity. Every now and then, this flow caused a flood-like situation in the lower region. Prince Dheerdeo of Bundi studied the problem and constructed 13 big tanks at different levels of the plateau.
