Water is one of the most essential and invaluable resources of nature, we cannot live without — this is a phrase that in one form or another we all have heard countless times. We are also aware that much like the other gifts of nature, this too is not unlimited.

And yet, we continue to struggle to let this fact percolate into our conscious minds. From the waking moment in front of the bathroom sink where the tap runs constantly as we brush away the morning blues, to the millions of tonnes of impurities that are daily discarded into the water bodies, our actions continue to disregard the fact that water is indeed a limited resource.

Owing to this, four billion people across the globe, which is two-thirds of the world’s population, continue to experience water scarcity for over a month, every year. According to UNICEF’s estimate, half of the world’s population by 2025 would be living in areas facing acute water scarcity.

Corroborating this, a NITI Aayog report had stated that 600 million people in India, which is almost half its population, face extreme water crises every day. The situation is so bad that almost three-fourths of India’s rural households have to rely on surviving on dirty polluted water as they have no access to piped potable water in their homes.

In this situation, water conservation is the only way to avert impending doom. However in pursuit of solutions to bolster our future, one must look back into the past where earlier civilizations have battled similar, if not the same, challenges around water scarcity.

From floods to droughts, one can find an array of eco-friendly and sustainable traditional methods of water conservation in the pages of history, that have not only saved millions of lives but have also stood the test of time. Almost every region in India is blessed with these homegrown

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