Traditional water harvesting system prevalent in various parts of the India include the following methods : (i) Diversion channels like ‘guls’ and ‘kuls’ of Western Himalayas are built in hilly and mountain areas for irrigating agricultural fields. (ii) In hilly areas of Meghalya, bamboo-drip irrigation system taps stream and spring water. (iii) Inundation channels are constructed to irrigate agricultural fields in the floodplains of Bengal. (iv) In the arid regions of Rajasthan agricultural fields were converted into rainfed storage structures locally known as ‘Khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’ in other parts of Rajasthan. These structures allowed the water to stand and moisten the soil. (v) Rooftop rainwater harvesting was commonly practised to store drinking water particularly in Rajasthan. In the semi-arid and arid regions of Rajasthan, particularly in Bikaner,Phalodi and Barmer, almost all the houses traditionally had underground ‘tankas’ or ‘tanks’ for storing drinking water.