Asian Journal of Geographical Research

This study assesses the present functional status of water conservation systems in the Tonk–Sawai Madhopur region of eastern Rajasthan, India (11,692 km²), and examines the geographical and social factors associated with their performance. Field inspection of 240 structures, a household survey of 360 respondents across eighteen gram panchayats and GIS-based spatial analysis of fourteen tehsil units were combined in an analytical and comparative design. Only 45% of inspected structures were fully functional; traditional structures (34%) lagged well behind modern ones (56%); stepwells were almost wholly inactive, and the stock has lost about 39% of its designed storage capacity, chiefly to siltation. A composite Water Conservation Potential Index (WCPI) was derived for the fourteen units from six indicators weighted by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (consistency ratio 0.07) and used to rank units and to map suitability for new structures. Independently of the index, the community participation index was positively associated with the proportion of functional structures (r = 0.69, P < .01, n = 14), and restoration was followed by measurable household gains: irrigated area increased by 50%, cropping intensity by 30 points, net farm income by 37%, and the water table rose by 2.6 m (all P < .01). Siltation and the absence of maintenance arrangements together account for about 53% of observed deterioration, and restoring existing structures would raise annual recharge from 51.5 to 108.3 million m³ without new land. The evidence indicates that retention rather than rainfall is the binding constraint in this transition zone, and that maintenance institutions deserve the same policy attention as construction. Because the WCPI correlations reported here are part–whole relationships, they are presented as index-structure diagnostics and not as independent evidence of the relative influence of individual factors.