India's arid areas appear to have some experience with 'check dams' for precisely this purpose - turning monsoonal wet seasons into year-round wellwater. http:

India's arid areas appear to have some experience with 'check dams' for precisely this purpose - turning monsoonal wet seasons into year-round wellwater. http://lawschool.unm.edu/nrj/volumes/48/3/03_agoramoorthy_indian.pdf http://lawschool.unm.edu/nrj/volumes/48/3/03_agoramoorthy_in... http://www.researchgate.net/publication/247773763_A_review_on_managed_aquifer_recharge_by_check_dams_A_case_study_near_Chennai_India http://www.researchgate.net/publication/247773763_A_review_o... http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/CABI_Publications/CA_CABI_Series/Ground_Water/protected/Giordano_1845931726-Chapter10.pdf http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/CABI_Publications/CA_... Digging ditches is much less cost-effective for this purpose than building small dams, though they seem to have also worked with those, ditches filled with rocks under a cover and used as a storage tank.