The paper overviews the research activities initiated by the late T.J. Mathew, Thumpassery, Punalur for localized conservation of rainwater, about thirty years back. The research activities have been conducted in Thumpassery Estates located at Punalur and Taliparamba in Kerala, India. An accidental discovery that the rain water which sank in the house compound recharged a nearby well led to the idea of conservation of rainwater. Different methods were tried and it was found that contour trenching and advanced pitting were successful in ground water recharge. However, with increased cost and paucity of farm labourers the renovation of these pits became laborious and expensive. This has led to the development of a natural system in rubber by allowing all the vegetation in the inter-spaces to grow and from a natural soil cover so as to conserve rain water and rebuild topsoil. Weeding was restricted to minimum. Application of fertilizers and adoption of plant protection measures were continued. It was observed that an almost clean weeded area took at least six years for regenerating satisfactory ground cover and after the ground cover was established, it took another five years for enriching soil organic matter. To reduce human intervention in the natural process mechanical weeding along planting rows alone and to reduce the ill effects of copper oxychloride on regenerated vegetation, low volume spraying using diesel as a carrier in lieu of conventional rubber spray oil were successfully adopted. The new system has been proved successful in Thumpassery Estates. It improved the soil physical, chemical and biological properties, reduced the runoff and erosion, enhanced the biodiversity and altogether improved the health of the soil.