00:01This structure is 500 years old, but now it's become a garbage dump.
00:09There is so much history in the city of Bidar in southern India,
00:14but much of it may be doomed to be forgotten.
00:20Historical systems were for a reason, a lot of common sense,
00:24a lot of knowledge went behind making these huge systems,
00:27huge stepwells and embankments. We go back to that historical common sense
00:33and start to see them as a resource and not as a place to dump garbage.
00:40Vinay Kumar Malge and his team are determined to document and protect
00:45as much history as they can.
00:47They believe history is a teacher that holds valuable lessons.
00:55The lesson he is trying to learn now is about water.
01:04600 years ago, the Behemani kings who arrived from Persia and Afghanistan
01:09made Bidar the capital when they conquered the land.
01:14But this city lies in the heart of the Deccan Plateau,
01:18a vast semi-arid region known for its long, harsh, dry summers
01:22when water sources dry up.
01:24Even today, water remains a problem for the 1.7 million people who live here.
01:32So how did the kings provide water to its new capital 600 years ago?
01:41Vinay's answer lies underground.
01:45Very unique water harnessing technique,
01:48which was very prevalent during that time in the Central Asian countries,
01:54especially Iran, was introduced to Bidar,
01:56which is called as the Karez or the Kanath technique.
01:59Basically works as a conveyor system where water table is breached on top
02:03of a hillock or a mountain.
02:05And through these aqueducts, through these underground aqueducts,
02:07the water is transported to settlements.
02:11Workers dug long horizontal tunnels deep underneath the city.
02:16Every 50 meters, vertical shafts to the surface were built.
02:21The network of these tunnels stored rainwater underground,
02:25while water also seeped into the system through the rocks and soil.
02:30The slope ensured that water was being transported from areas with high ground water
02:34to those places where springs dry in summers.
02:38Air and light entering from the shafts ensured the water remained clean
02:42and made it easy to maintain the system.
02:48For 500 years, the Karez system sustained Bidar.
02:53But things drastically changed after the 1970s drought.
02:57And the government had to take some very immediate measures.
03:00Bore wells were kind of introduced.
03:02So from open wells to step wells to Kanath,
03:05people really started to neglect these systems because they could not see them
03:09as a source of water anymore.
03:14Garbage and silt soon filled the tunnels and shafts.
03:19Homes, malls and residential areas were built over them.
03:23The system was forgotten.
03:29In 2015, three years of drought saw even the bore wells dry up.
03:34Historians, heritage experts and government authorities asked a larger question.
03:40Could reviving Karez help Bidar's water crisis?
03:44Just like it did 600 years ago.
03:48Over 200 workers took on the challenge.
03:52Just imagine like a tunnel which is running for 2.4 kilometers long
03:56and which is completely filled by decomposed silt,
04:00then decomposed garbage, then dry garbage.
04:04And the wells, the vertical shafts which go as deep as 60 feet,
04:08and they were all completely filled with garbage.
04:11The real work was being done by the well diggers team,
04:14which we identified from different villages in Bidar.
04:18With good rains, the Karez came alive.
04:22Now crystal clear water flows out of its mouth
04:25and into streams that snake along farmers' fields.
04:33It's a blessing for us.
04:35The work done in a time so long ago by a king we don't know about
04:39has ended up benefiting us.
04:44For the past 45 years,
04:46Sidaling Appa has been growing crops like sugarcane,
04:49wheat, chickpea and maize.
04:52But during summers, his well and the stream would run dry.
04:56He could grow crops in just 2 out of the 6 acres.
05:02For years, I earned about 50,000 rupees during the summers from our crops.
05:07But now I can earn 1 lakh rupees.
05:09That's double as we grow more using the Karez water.
05:12And I'm not the only one who benefits.
05:14A lot of farmers benefit from this as the water flows towards Markal.
05:20Across India, ancient civilizations have left behind ingenious water structures.
05:25There are an estimated 3,000 step wells.
05:29Most lost to time.
05:31At least 4 cities on the Deccan plateau have the Karez system.
05:36Even in Bidar, several tunnels remain undiscovered.
05:40Finding the history may be important in a country
05:43where 600 million people face extreme water stress.
05:47Underground canal systems is really an engineering marvel, I should feel.
05:53That in such regions,
05:55that is a more effective way of actually utilizing the resources.
06:01Dr. Fanendra from the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad,
06:04had done the initial studies on the Bidar Karez.
06:07Now, he and his students are using cutting edge technology
06:11to locate hidden networks beneath Bidar.
06:15Satellite images may help us.
06:17For example, if you see the vegetation above the Karez line
06:21versus vegetation beyond the Karez line could be different.
06:25If some satellites or drone technologies can help to identify the probable paths,
06:29then that can help the administration to take a next step actually to excavate.
06:36Back in Bidar, Vinay and his team continue to document hundreds of structures
06:41and are still discovering wells and tunnels.
06:51Here it is our heritage, our water and nature has picked us for a reason.
06:57And all these resources, if we do not respect and if we do not kind of save it for our
07:01future,
07:01it will be a problem.
07:05Bidar has shown that history may indeed have answers for the problems of our present.
07:10All we need to do is protect and revive them before they are lost permanently to time.
07:18All we need to do is protect the
07:20Before we begin, we will face damage to our 로-K relevancy
07:20You
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