**1. Introduction**

India is endowed with rich biodiversity, natural beauty, and sound climatic as well as edaphic suitability. The country has a strange diversity of climatic regions, ranging from cold temperate and alpine in the Himalayan north to the hot and

humid tropical in the south. The country also cherishes a rich history of water heritage. The tradition of water harvesting in India is centuries old, this shows how much respect people have for water since ancient times. Traditionally water was worshiped, stored and conserved. Although there was diversity in the water harvesting systems, but on a large scale, reservoirs were constructed on a coordinated basis, the main objective of which was to create a wide range of water storage systems. In spite of all these bounties, the unfortunate aspect is that presently, India has become a house of a huge proportion of the world's 'water poor' population. It holds only 4 per cent of the world's freshwater resources, but 18% of the global inhabitants [1]. Presently in the country, agitating climate variability, rapid urbanization, and competitive demand of water for agriculture, industry, energy production, and municipal supply puts tremendous pressure on underground reservoirs and is hence making it increasingly tough to meet the water challenges of the near future.

The chapter finds defects in the current water distribution and utilization systems which specifically aim at realizing immediate results without respecting ecological boundaries. Additionally, it argues that there is an urgent need to revive India's traditional water culture to better cope with the worsening water conditions prevalent across the country. The chapter also signifies that the shortcomings of current water system can be well addressed by regaining the old wisdom of traditional water culture, and by integrating it with current state of scientific methods and technologies. A blend of traditional water culture and advanced water technologies can lead to a transformation into a more relevant water infrastructure that integrates development within the sustainable water cycle.
