Water Harvesting and Conservation under Cold Desert Condition of Ladakh (J&K): Constraints and Strategies

Abstract

Without conservation measures on extremely fragile terrain, as in the cold-desert condition of Ladakh region that has an area of 7.0 mha, (Goyal, 2010), the threat of land degradation and loss of fertile soil will exacerbate. Water harvesting and moisture conservation should evolve together for a sustainable mountain environment. Water harvesting pertains to the process of collecting and storing water from the specified areas. The water can be stored successfully in tanks, reservoirs and in the soils. The water is diverted from the watershed to the fields/crops. This practice however, was popular in many countries of the world particularly in the desert regions. These old systems of water storing are the pavements of modern water harvesting systems.