1. The main thing is the social control over groundwater extraction and no bore-wells usage for irrigation, no water-intensive crops like sugarcane.
2. Water for irrigation was taken only through dug wells.
3. They also worked out certain thumb rule type of things like if they get good rainfall, then they can take full rabi crop; if the rainfall is less, then they bring down the area under rabi crop etc.
4. They keep rainfall data meticulously and use it for crop planning and water use prioritization.