Case Study
Passage with linked questions
Case Set 1
Case AnalysisPassage
Ramesh lives in a village on the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan. Every summer, his family struggles to find clean drinking water as the local pond dries up. His grandmother recalls that in her childhood, every household had an underground tanka connected to the sloping roof of the house. Rainwater falling on the rooftop would travel through a pipe into the tanka and was stored until the next rainfall. She says the first spell of rain was never collected as it washed the roof and pipes clean. This stored rainwater, called 'palar pani', was considered the purest form of natural water. However, since the Indira Gandhi Canal brought water to the region, fewer households maintain these tankas. Ramesh wonders whether reviving this system might solve their summer water crisis, given that the canal water supply is often irregular and insufficient during peak summers.
Question 1: What is 'palar pani' and why was it considered the purest form of natural water?
- 'Palar pani' is the local term for rainwater in Rajasthan.
- It was considered the purest because rainwater falls directly from the sky without any ground contamination, making it free from dissolved salts and pollutants found in ground or surface water.
Question 2: Why was the first spell of rain not collected in the traditional tanka system?
- The first spell of rain was not collected because it served as a cleaning agent for the rooftops and the connecting pipes.
- This ensured that dust, bird droppings, and other contaminants were washed away, so that the subsequently collected rainwater was cleaner and safer for drinking.
Question 3: Why is the practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting declining in western Rajasthan, and what are the long-term consequences of this decline for water security in the region?
- The practice is declining because the Indira Gandhi Canal has made perennial water available, reducing the perceived need for traditional storage systems.
- This dependence on a single canal source is risky — if the canal faces disruption, reduced flow, or seasonal irregularity, communities will have no backup water source.
- Declining traditional knowledge and infrastructure means communities lose resilience against drought and water scarcity, threatening long-term water security especially in summers when demand peaks and canal supply may be insufficient.