Haveli Bundhies: Traditional Water Management in Bundelkhand

Bundelkhand – a semi-arid plateau shared between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh – is one of India’s most drought-vulnerable regions. Average evapotranspiration here exceeds 1,600 mm per year, while annual rainfall hovers below 1,000 mm, creating a persistent water deficit that has historically threatened crop survival. Yet for centuries, farmers in this region have not simply waited for the rains – they have captured them. The Haveli Bundhi system is one such Indigenous water management technique: a field-level rainwater impoundment practice that turns the seasonal monsoon into a year-round agricultural resource.

What are Haveli Bundhies? 🔗

The word Haveli refers to an enclosed or bounded area, and Bundhies are the earthen embankments – or bunds – built to hold water within that enclosure. Together, the Haveli Bundhi system works by constructing low earthen embankments around agricultural fields to trap and store monsoon runoff directly where it falls. This system evolved over 300-500 years ago and has been the lifeline of the Bundelkhand region for water security, supporting farmers through unpredictable monsoon seasons long before modern irrigation infrastructure existed.

The system is not a large-scale reservoir or dam. It operates at the level of individual farm fields. Farmers – particularly those at upstream landscape positions – impound surface runoff within their own land during the monsoon months (June to September). The water is held in the field for the duration of the wet season and then drained out as the monsoon recedes, leaving behind moisture-saturated soil and deposited silt that forms the productive base for the following season’s crops.

Why black soil makes this system work 🔗

The Haveli Bundhi system is inseparable from the black cotton soil (locally called regur or kali mitti) that dominates Bundelkhand’s agricultural landscape. This soil – classified as Vertisol – has a clay content of 40-60% and a very low basic infiltration rate of around 3.5-4.0 mm per hour. This rainwater management system is most prevalent in slowly permeable black soils and has been reported to cover almost 40-50% of the cultivated area across Bundelkhand, the Kymore Plateau, and the Central Narmada Valley.

When wet, this soil swells and becomes virtually impermeable – acting as a natural waterproof lining that keeps impounded water from draining away quickly. When dry in summer, it develops deep shrinkage cracks that initially help rainwater infiltrate but then seal up once the soil saturates. This self-sealing property is critical: it means that once a field fills with monsoon water, very little is lost to deep percolation. The water stays in the field, does the work it is supposed to do, and gradually releases into the soil profile as the season progresses.

How the system is constructed 🔗

Construction is straightforward by design. Farmers identify natural low-lying areas and gentle slopes in their fields – ideal gradients range from 1-3% – where rainwater naturally concentrates. Using locally available black soil, they raise earthen embankments around the perimeter of the field. These bunds are typically trapezoidal in cross-section to distribute water pressure evenly, with heights sufficient to hold standing water for several weeks.

A key structural element is the spillway or outlet. Every Haveli Bundhi includes a controlled drainage point that allows excess water to escape safely once the field reaches capacity, preventing bund failure during intense storms. Farmers traditionally plant grass or shrubs along the bund faces to bind the soil and reduce erosion. The result is a low-cost, locally maintained water storage structure that requires no concrete, no pumps, and no external inputs.

A significant modern improvement has come from ICRISAT, which introduced a masonry core wall embedded within the earthen bund along with an improved outlet. This addresses the chronic problem of bund breaching during heavy rainfall – a major reason the traditional system had fallen into disrepair in many villages. Between 2010 and 2021, ICRISAT and its partners constructed 40 such rejuvenated Haveli structures across seven districts of Bundelkhand.

The single-crop monsoon cycle: rice cultivation 🔗

The primary kharif use of a Haveli Bundhi is the cultivation of rice during the monsoon season. Standing water in the impounded field creates flooded conditions that paddy requires for healthy growth. The black soil’s water-holding capacity ensures that moisture levels remain consistent even between rainfall events. Farmers plant rice into the waterlogged field and harvest it before the water is drained in October.

Out of the approximately 750 mm of rainfall received during July and September, average surface runoff generated is about 135 mm – roughly 18% of rainfall – in a normal year. In wet years with over 900 mm of rainfall, runoff can reach 250-300 mm, or 30-35% of total precipitation. This runoff, which would otherwise flow away unused, is exactly what the Haveli Bundhi captures and puts to productive use.

This makes the Haveli Bundhi a true rainfed farming system: it does not require groundwater extraction, canal irrigation, or any supplemental water supply. The monsoon itself is the only input. The system’s efficiency lies in concentrating that rainfall within a bounded field rather than allowing it to scatter across the landscape as sheet runoff.

Post-monsoon rabi cropping: the second benefit 🔗

The Haveli Bundhi is technically described as a single-crop impoundment system, but the agricultural benefit extends across two seasons. After the monsoon water is drained in October, the field does not sit idle. The months of inundation leave the deep black soil saturated with residual moisture to a depth that shallow-rooted crops can access throughout the dry rabi season, without any irrigation.

Since sowing of the following rabi crop is done as the fields gradually dry out after drainage, the system affords a prolonged period for seeding winter crops. Typical rabi crops grown in this moisture-conserved soil include chickpea, lentils, field pea, mustard, and barley – all legumes or low-water-demanding cereals that thrive in the residual moisture profile.

Importantly, the flood-fallow period also has a weed-management function. An important reason for the development of the Haveli system was the need to control weeds – their remnants decompose into humus after drainage and improve soil fertility. The rabi crops therefore go into a field that is not only moist but organically enriched from decomposed weed biomass and deposited silt, which is why rabi crop productivity in Haveli fields tends to run 15-25% higher than in nearby non-Haveli fields.

Impact on groundwater and landscape hydrology 🔗

Beyond the field boundary, Haveli Bundhies have a measurable effect on the wider water landscape. By slowing surface runoff and holding water in fields for months, they allow gradual percolation that recharges shallow dug wells in the surrounding area. Rejuvenation of the Haveli system improved groundwater levels in shallow dug wells by an additional 2-5 metres of hydraulic head, which remained available in the following dry year.

A five-year study in the Parasai-Sindh watershed of Jhansi district documented the broader hydrological shifts: rainwater harvesting structures reduced average surface runoff from 250 mm per year to 150 mm per year, groundwater levels rose by 2-5 metres, and nearly 20% of fallow lands were brought under cultivation. Average household income in the same intervention area rose from around USD 960 per year to USD 2,700 per year compared to non-intervention landscapes.

The Central Ground Water Board has recommended that Bundelkhand districts adopt rainwater harvesting through bunds, village ponds, and percolation tanks as a primary strategy for aquifer recharge – a validation of what the Haveli Bundhi system has been doing through farmer knowledge for centuries.

Why the system declined – and why it matters that it is being revived 🔗

The traditional Haveli system gradually became defunct mainly due to the disintegration of water user groups and rural institutions, compounded by a shift toward groundwater-dependent farming after the spread of tubewells. The traditional earthen bunds also struggled with new rainfall patterns – more intense, shorter bursts of precipitation that breach unstrengthened structures.

Between 2006 and 2016, 60% of Bundelkhand’s wells showed a fall in groundwater of 4 metres, a consequence of the very groundwater dependence that replaced traditional rainwater harvesting. The disuse of Haveli Bundhies and the decline of groundwater are two sides of the same crisis.

The revival is gaining traction. A high-level delegation from the Government of Uttar Pradesh recently visited villages in Bundelkhand where ICRISAT-supported Haveli rejuvenation has transformed previously fallow wastelands into water-abundant, productive croplands. The state government is now exploring scaling the programme across the wider region. Water harvesting interventions combined with improved crop varieties and balanced fertilizer use have been shown to enhance crop yields by 30-50% and increase cropping intensity from 80% to 150% – a dramatic shift for smallholder farmers who previously managed just one unreliable crop per year.

Relevance in a changing climate 🔗

Bundelkhand is acutely exposed to climate change. Rainfall in the region is increasingly delivered in short, intense spells rather than spread over the monsoon season, meaning water has less time to infiltrate the soil and recharge groundwater before it runs off. The Haveli Bundhi’s value lies precisely in capturing that runoff at the point it is generated – in the field itself – before it escapes downstream.

Repairs and modifications to traditional rainwater harvesting structures are less expensive than many other solutions to drought, and evidence from Bundelkhand indicates just how effective these can be. The Haveli Bundhi is not a museum piece – it is a living solution that combines low cost, local materials, indigenous knowledge, and proven hydrology. In an era of expensive irrigation infrastructure and depleting aquifers, this centuries-old bund may be one of the most practical water management tools available to rainfed farmers in Central India.

What do you think? As rainfall patterns grow more erratic across dryland farming regions, should reviving and formalising Indigenous water management systems like the Haveli Bundhi be a national priority – or are modern irrigation technologies better placed to solve the problem? And given that this system’s success depends on community maintenance and water user groups, how should rural institutions be restructured to support its large-scale comeback?

References

1. https://www.indiaspend.com/indias-climate-change-hotspots/a-warming-climate-parches-an-already-dry-bundelkhand-875077
2. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.826722/full
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167880914005064
4. https://pressroom.icrisat.org/building-on-bundelkhand-pilot-success-uttar-pradesh-officials-explore-expansion-avenues
5. https://oar.icrisat.org/12570/
6. https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/c72fa039-8be0-48a4-8b75-55266f52ac85
7. https://www.rgics.org/groundwater-management-in-india-uttar-pradesh-state-report/
8. https://theanalysis.org.in/revisiting-bundelkhands-water-crisis-lessons-from-the-past-and-key-issues/
9. https://pressroom.icrisat.org/building-on-bundelkhand-pilot-success-uttar-paradesh-officials-explore-expansion-avenues
10. https://oar.icrisat.org/12310/
11. https://archive.iwmi.org/wle/thrive/2021/02/15/rejuvenation-bundelkhand-how-upland-watershed-got-its-groundwater-back/index.html