Do we wait for a structure/system to tear apart to call it a ruin and beautify it?

Thinking about the edge of water means no less than imagining a city and a community. Cities have had strong relationships with water bodies, as water was intimately connected with being alive. Water is not just a physical fact but has a profound psychological presence. Burhanpur, a town in Central India, was an active trade centre and the boundary of the Mughal empire. The town is situated on the banks of Tapi. This perennial river was always at risk of being poisoned or diverted due to frequent conflicts with the Mughals’ territories upstream. To protect the citizens of Burhanpur from the looming danger of water shortages and poisonings, a city-wide system of wells and artificial basins was built in 1615 to provide the town with a steady and safe flow of fresh water. A great part of this indigenous groundwater infrastructure has been dilapidated over time. Today, most households are served with tap water; the traditional collection tanks are abandoned and used as garbage dumps. Considering India's increasingly frequent water crisis, the project proposes to recover the traditional systems as a source of fresh water. The serigraph intends to highlight the architectonic value of the water infrastructure and the sociality of ancient waterways and their cultural meanings to advocate for the preservation of water infrastructures, cultures and knowledge.