Tikamgarh has been irrigating its lands through water tanks built by Chandela rulers during 900-1200 AD. These stored rainwater and also recharged groundwater in otherwise semi-arid areas. It's due to its 55,000 dug wells that 57 per cent of Tikamgarh's cultivated area has irrigation facilities, compared to the state average of 23 per cent. A state government report says that the Chandela tanks in the district can irrigate 23,481 hectares (ha) besides recharging wells. Many are under the panchayats.

authorities in the Andaman islands are now reviving 191 old wells, dug during World War ii in Port Blair in an attempt to check the city's mounting water crisis. The city currently receives a

Communities lose case against injection wells

This is a typical Venetian locality: houses built around paved squares called campi, with a well at the centre (right). Because water harvesting was at the centre of the city's life; there isn't a clear number, but Venice would have an estimated 4,000 wells. None of the wells have pulleys, probably because the water table was quite shallow. The slope is against the well, and the courtyards are marked by white stone stripes, indicating the path runoff took on its way to the seepage holes. It would have taken something to keep seawater at bay.

Today, all wells have fallen to disuse and are capped with iron shields. A pipeline fetches water from 250 km away, feeding the network of taps (below: a public tap, with customary Venetian craft). But the water bill is steep. And what if water stops coming from 250 km away? The number of tourists is higher than residents, raising the water demand. With tourism have come pigeons, whose droppings damage the marble edifices. And Venice is sinking by 6 mm every year. The sea is staking its claim. Who knows, a revival of wells might work!

Venice isn t just canals and aristocrats. anupam mishra gets off a gondola and stumbles into well workmanship and rainwater use