Umaid Heritage:Water Conservation with Beauty

In the earlier times water harvesting and conservation system was used widely and one can still see the examples in the old 'baoli's' in the old towns. Baoli is a stepwell where the water storage may be reached by descending a set of steps. Stepwells were a very common feature in the arid western and north-western part of ancient India.

Umaid Herittage Garden Stepwell

But to see this in the modern age is pleasantly surprising. I saw this at the Umaid Heritage Gardens which is a housing society next to the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The area is owned by the Majaraja of Jodhpur who in a business tie up with a private developer have made this housing society and selling individual units to the public.

Water stored in the Stepwell 

The stepwells are made to store water during the rainy monsoon season so that it can be used during the lean season. The Umaid Heritage Gardens has built this beautiful, artistic and aesthetically pleasing modern age baoli.

Artistic stairs in the Stepwell

The baoli has multiple levels and the water is taken out for gardening by placing water pumping motors at the lowest levels.

A modern Stepwell 

The stepwell is able to meet all the water requirement to maintain the beautiful gardens of this residential colony.

Beautiful Garden at Umaid Heritage

It is nice to see some of these water conservation projects coming up in the modern day which are not only good for the conservation of the water but are also pleasant to look at instead of looking like an eyesore like some of the modern structures.