One of the most lasting legacies of the Deccan has been the water management policy formulated by the Kakatiya dynasty, which relied mainly on small tanks for its irrigation and drinking water requirements. There was a time when the Telangana countryside boasted of thousands of tanks which ensured a perennial supply of water for settlements across the region. The Qutub Shahi rulers continued the practice by adding numerous tanks of their own, especially in the areas abutting the citadel at Golconda. A majority of those tanks continued to serve the population till post-reorganisation exploitation of the region’s resources led to their being either rendered dry or unusable due to pollution. Following the great floods of 1908, Mahboob Ali Khan, the ...

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