Kulkarni - Assistant Professor
Mandar Mahajan - Research Scholar

India has a long tradition of construction of chain of tanks as rainwater harvesting structures for agriculture, fishing, domestic needs and groundwater recharge. The undulating topography of Deccan plateau provided a good base for these innovative but simple structures, which the early settlers developed with their indigenous skill and technical advice from local craftsmen. Tanks are eco-friendly, ensure groundwater recharge, and provide protective and efficient irrigation. During the medieval period village communities owned and managed the tank system, collected taxes without interference from the state. During British period the tank systems were transferred to the state. Even after independence in 1947, the role of tank as a source of irrigation is getting eroded continuously. Poor status of tanks is attributed to centralized administration resulting in breakdown of community institution and system failure due to meager resource allocation. Urbanization is a phenomenon affecting the tank ecosystem on the fringes of the cities and upcoming towns. The expansion of human settlements poses a big threat to the common properties like tanks which are owned by the state, are taken over by the various departments for the construction of government offices, housing colonies, bus stands and other utilities. It has been established beyond doubt that the cities like Chennai have faced major groundwater drought due to total elimination of water bodies, which existed in the middle of urban settlements. The Dharmabad block in Maharashtra has 46 tanks constructed in 18th century, out of which six tanks were around the town of Dharmabad. These tanks have lost the purpose for the reasons mentioned above. The paper presents the success story of people’s initiatives in modernizing the tanks by improving storage capacity and efficient management of water through beneficiary participation. The Dharmabad local self-government body has prepared a beautification plan of the tank costing Rs6.5 million which consists of improving storage, garden around the tank, garden statues, bird houses etc. The statue of Lord Shiva (14m high) will be installed in the tank for which expenditure will be met from the people’s contribution. 50% work has been completed. The temple of Lord Shiva in the premises will attract thousands of pilgrims, which will ensure sustainability of the project.