The term water harvesting was probably used first by Geddes of the University of Sydney. He defined as the collection and storage of any form of water either runoff or creek flow for irrigation use. Nowadays water harvesting has become a general term for collecting and storing runoff water or creek flow, resulting from the rain in soil profile and reservoirs both over surface /under surface. In India, water harvesting means utilizing the erratic monsoon rain for raising good crops in dry tracks and conserve the excess runoff water for drinking and recharging purposes.
Rainfall is a basic resource for all the forms of water in Saline Region of western Vidharbha. Though the annual average rainfall of the country is 1200 mm, it varies in both space and time affecting the availability of water for different sectors. India uses80% of the available water in agriculture keeping the remaining 20% for drinking, industry and energy sectors. The present study was undertaken to quantify evaporation losses and seepage losses (storage losses) from dugout type farm ponds in saline tract area and to study the utility of harvested water on farmers' field. The average water storage loss in unlined farm ponds constructed in clay soils was found to be 125.66 cm. which comes to 18.60 per cent water storage loss during five-month of storage period. Thus, nearly 1100 m3 harvested rainwater will be available for use in rainfed areas from 2 ha. Catchment area up to February and later on groundwater resources can be tapped during the summer period for improving the production potential of crops and its sustenance in Vidharbha.