Irrigation tank

An irrigation tank or tank is an artificial reservoir of any size, mainly in India. (The word sagar refers to a large lake, usually man-made). It can also have a natural or man-made spring included as part of a structure. Tanks are part of an ancient tradition of harvesting and preserving the local rainfall and water from streams and rivers for later use, primarily for agriculture and drinking water, but also for sacred bathing and ritual. Often a tank was constructed across a slope so to collect and store water by taking advantage of local mounds and depressions. Tank use is especially critical in parts of South India without perennial rainfall where water supply replenishment is dependent on a cycle of dry seasons alternating with monsoon seasons.

1. The undulating relief and hard rock’s make it difficult to dig canals and wells.

2. There is little percolation of rain water due to hard rock structure and ground water is not available in large quantity.

3. Most of the rivers of this region are seasonal and dry up in summer season. Therefore, they cannot supply water to canals throughout the year.

4. There are several streams which become torrential during rainy season. The only way to make best use of this water is to impound it by constructing bunds and building tanks. Otherwise this water would go waste to the sea.

5. The scattered nature of population and agricultural fields also favours tank irrigation.

Most of the tanks are natural and do not involve heavy cost for their construction. Even an individual farmer can have his own tank. Tanks are generally constructed on rocky bed and have longer life span. In many tanks, fishing is also carried on. This supplements both the food resources and income of the farmer.

Many tanks dry up during the dry season and fail to provide irrigation when it is needed the most. Silting of the tank bed is a serious problem and it requires desilting of the tank at regular intervals.

Much water is evaporated from the large expanse of shallow water and is thus not available for irrigation. Tanks cover large areas of cultivable land. In many areas, other sources of irrigation have been adopted and the dry beds of tanks have been reclaimed for agriculture. Moreover, lifting of water from tanks and carrying it to the fields is a strenuous and costly exercise which discourages the use of tanks as a source of irrigation.

Water is considered a purifying and regenerative element in India, and is an essential element of prayer and ritual. Water is also revered because of its scarcity in western India where dry and monsoon seasons alternate and failure of the monsoon season means famine and death while plentiful water replacing irrigations sources is a time of rejoicing. This resulted in building water storage tanks that combined the practical and sacred. Since ancient times, the design of water storage has been important in Indian architecture. As early as 3000 BC, sophisticated systems of drains, wells and tanks were built to conserve and utilise water. Tank building as an art form began with the Hindus and developed under Muslim rule.

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Wikipedia