The traditional water harvesting system of diverting mountain streams through channels in the Western Himalayas is known as:

In the Western Himalayas, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, people traditionally built channels called guls or kuls to divert water from glaciers, streams and springs to their fields and villages.

How guls and kuls work:

• A kul begins at a glacier, stream or spring high up in the mountains.
• The water is diverted into a channel that runs along the mountain slope, sometimes for several kilometres.
• The channel carries water to villages and terraced fields, where it is distributed for irrigation.
• In some areas, the channel ends in a small circular tank from which water is released as needed.

Community management:

• The kuls are traditionally built and maintained by the village community.
• A person called the "kohli" in Himachal Pradesh is often responsible for maintaining the kul and distributing water fairly among farmers.

Importance:

• In the cold, dry regions of Spiti and Ladakh, where rainfall is very low, agriculture depends almost entirely on such channels fed by melting snow.
• These systems are an example of sustainable, community-based water management.

Other traditional water harvesting systems of India:

• Johads: earthen check dams in Rajasthan and Haryana.
• Khadins: in the deserts of western Rajasthan (Jaisalmer), where runoff from higher ground is collected in farmland.
• Kunds (tankas): underground tanks in Rajasthan for storing rainwater.
• Baoris and stepwells (vavs): in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
• Eris (tanks): in Tamil Nadu.
• Ahar-pynes: in south Bihar.
• Phad: in Maharashtra.
• Surangam: in Kerala and Karnataka.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Johads are found in Rajasthan and Haryana.
• ✗Khadins are found in the deserts of western Rajasthan.
• ✗Eris are tanks of Tamil Nadu.