The ongoing global climate crisis is significantly worsened by the widespread use of Heating, ventilation, and air cooling (HVAC) systems, demanding immediate and comprehensive attention to indoor air quality (IAQ) on a global scale. The escalating temperatures and increasing frequency of climate-related events underscore the urgency of addressing IAQ issues. While maintaining IAQ is a concern in all climatic zones, refrigerant-based conventional approaches paradoxically contribute to global warming or climate change. Consequently, water-based passive cooling that was part of vernacular systems can be re-looked into for enhancing IAQ control. However, a review of the literature indicated an absence of detailed reviews of existing traditional water-based cooling systems from a passive cooling perspective. Hence, this research primarily aims to systematically review the roles that water plays in achieving IAQ stabilization across different climatic requirements. This research also observes that the diverse climatic conditions in India are representative of the world’s climatic zones and systematically studies vernacular water-based passive cooling systems there-in through schematic drawings. Such a purposive study of the existing traditional water-based passive cooling systems across climatic zones and their schematics is a precursor to the appropriate design of scalable water-based passive cooling systems.