Water tanks as ecosystems. Local ecosystemic perception for integral management of water tanks in Tamil Nadu, South India

Abstract

Los tanques de agua (water tanks) ofrecen desde hace siglos soluciones en el Sur de la India a los problemas derivados de la escasez de agua. Son un sistema tradicional de recogida de agua de lluvia ampliamente distribuido por este territorio, que permite una potencial gestión de los propios recursos a nivel local, descentralizada y participativa. Aunque la principal función de los tanques de agua es la irrigación, existen muchos otros usos, funciones y recursos naturales asociados a ellos que permiten la inclusión de muchos más actores de la comunidad, aparte de aquellos agricultores que aprovechan la irrigación. Los tanques de agua configuran además una variedad de paisaje y biodiversidad, creando una valiosa heterogeneidad territorial. La complejidad de este ecosistema debe ser gestionada con una perspectiva integral que considere todos los elementos vinculados y las relaciones entre ellos, entendiendo que los tanques de agua no son simplemente depósitos de agua. Este estudio multidisciplinar intenta demostrar el concepto de tanques de agua entendidos como ecosistemas, describiendo y analizando de una manera profunda novedosa las funciones, usos, recursos naturales y actores. La investigación se centra también en el análisis de la percepción ecosistémica de la población local de algunas comunidades en Tamil Nadu (India del Sur), empleando diversas metodologías antropológicas.

The socio-ecohydrology of rainwater harvesting in India: understanding water storage and release dynamics at tank and catchment scales

“…At the local scale, it is evident tanks are the central hub of village activity. Festivals held after tank filling often celebrate opening of the tank sluice, showing a close connection between tanks and local communities (Ariza et al, 2007). Use of tanks for domestic purposes (Figure 1.4b), leisure activities and generally as a gathering place, demonstrate their social importance (Ariza et al, 2007).This socio-cultural role extends further with the acknowledgement of tanks as sacred places…”

Monsoon Harvests: The Living Legacies of Rainwater Harvesting Systems in South India

“…In villages, temples are often built directly into tank bunds, with statues of the deities positioned nearby to protect the tanks from harm (Figure e). The tanks also provide social gathering places and in many cases are considered sacred spaces, with traditional rituals such as Hindu weddings and burial ceremonies taking place there . In daily village life, tanks continue to have multiple uses, providing water for drinking and the laundering of clothes, a grazing area for livestock (Figure f), trees for fuel wood, and silt to be used as a fertilizer. , The varied uses of the tanks serve to strengthen the economic base of surrounding communities, with per capita incomes in some areas increasing more than 50% after tank rehabilitation projects .…”

Evaluating the Functioning Mechanisms of ‘TANK Systems’ in Peri-Urban Areas of Chennai, India—Land Use Change as the Determinant

“…Here, tank refers to water storage reservoirs of an area of a few hundred square meters to thousands of square meters. The term tank comes from the Portuguese 'Tanque' or the Latin 'Stagnum' [12]. The water management systems are called 'tanks systems' [13][14][15] or 'tank irrigation systems' [16] based on their prominent feature, the tanks.…”

“…The traditional tank system was a complex and interdependent system managed by the community [18,19]. The basis of this interdependency was the interrelationships within the system through benefits acquired by the people related to the existence of agricultural activity, especially paddy cultivation [12,16,18] (Figure 1). The decline of the tank systems was attributed to various factors in the past related to the transfer from community control to state control [5,14,17,18,20,21] and to the lack in their maintenance and protection by these government agencies that control these water resources [14,22,23].…”

“…The technology of the water management is a function related to 'agroclimatic and agrarian contexts' [27] and agriculture also plays an important role in the social dynamics of the tank systems [12,[28][29][30]. Mizushima (1966) [20] and Yanagisawa (2008) [31] traced the connection between the changes in the water management systems and the change in land ownership and administration during the colonial period and after.…”