Participatory Groundwater Management at Village ...

Participatory Groundwater Management at Village Level in India – Empowering Communities with Science for Effective Decision Making* Y. Jadeja1, B. Maheshwari2, R. Packham2, Hakimuddin3, R. Purohit4, B. Thaker1, V. Goradiya1, S. Oza5, S. Dave2, P. Soni3, Y. Dashora4, R. Dashora3, T Shah6, J. Gorsiya1, P. Katara4, J. Ward7, R. Kookana7, P. Dillon7, S. Prathapar6, P. Chinnasamy6 and M. Varua2 1

Arid Communities and Technologies, Bhuj, Guj. 370001, India; Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith NSW 2751, Australia 3 Vidya Bhawan Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Udaipur, Raj. 313001, India; 4 Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Raj. 313001, India 5 Development Support Centre, Ahmedabad, Guj. 380058, India; 6 International Water Management Institute, PO Box 2075, Colombo, Sri Lanka; 7 CSIRO Land and Water Flagship, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia 2

Abstract There are many reasons behind the worsening groundwater situation that have led to a scarcity of quality water supply for sustaining lives and livelihoods in India, as well as in other parts of the world. The lack of a proper scientific understanding of this situation by the various stakeholders has been identified as one of the important gaps in the sustainable management of groundwater. This paper shares experiences from Gujarat and Rajasthan in western India where scientists, NGOs, government agencies and village leaders have worked together to explore strategies for sustainable groundwater management. The study involved a total of eleven villages in Gujarat and Rajasthan, India. The study’s main aim was to educate these communities through an intensive capacity building of (mainly) rural youth, called Bhujal Jaankars (BJs), a Hindi word meaning ‘groundwater informed’. The BJs were trained in their local settings through relevant theory and practical exercises, so that they could perform a geohydrological evaluation of their area, monitor groundwater and share their findings and experiences with their village community. The BJs went through a training program of a series of sessions totalling 45-days that covered mapping, land and water resource analysis, geo-hydrology, and water balance analysis, and finally groundwater management strategies. This approach has highlighted important learning that can be replicated in other parts of the two states and beyond. There are now 35 trained BJs who regularly monitor groundwater and rainfall in the two study watersheds, and provide data to both scientific and their own rural communities. This study has demonstrated that BJ capacity building has helped to provide a scientific basis for village level *Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

groundwater dialogue. This is now leading the communities and other stakeholders to improve their decision making regarding groundwater use, crop selection, agronomy, recharge strategies and other aspects of sustainable groundwater management. Although the BJ program has been successful and BJs can act as a valuable interface between local communities and other stakeholders, there still exists some challenges to the BJ programme, such as the need for mechanisms and funding sources that will sustain the BJs over the longer term; wider acceptance of BJs among scientific communities and policy makers; and the acceptance of the role and involvements of BJs in natural resources management programs of the State and Central governments in India.

Keywords Participatory approach, community engagement, groundwater and capacity building

Introduction Groundwater is an essential resource for farmers, especially in arid to semi regions where the rainfall is a most non-reliant phenomenon. Post green revolution irrigation in India has encouraged irrigation agriculture initially through surface water storage dams, but then groundwater. Figures of Indian agricultural statistic of CWC, (2003) show a significant rise in groundwater irrigated areas from 0 % by tube wells in 1950 to around 39 % in 2003, while showing a decreasing trend of open well use in irrigation from 29 % in 1950 to 22.5 % in 2003. In comparing canal water and surface water irrigation the trend is almost the reverse that is from 40.3 % in 1950 to 29.3 % in 2003. This clearly reflects that India’s agriculture is more dependent on groundwater than on surface water and there is a decrease in the use of open wells for irrigation while there is a significant increase in the use of tubewells, indicating an ongoing depletion of groundwater from aquifers. Groundwater is also an important for drinking purposes, as it supplies about 90 % of rural drinking water (DDWS, 2009). According to NSSO (2006), about 56 % of drinking water supply is by hand pump, 14 % from open wells and about 25 % supply takes place through pipe supply from tubewells. However, while the drinking water supply share is only about 7 % of total water use, the groundwater, extraction by agriculture purpose is starting to threaten drinking water supply in two ways, firstly through an overall shortage of water, and secondly through water quality deterioration; this is revealed through the increasing numbers of habitations being affected (DDWS, 2009).

*Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

A comparison of the CGWB’s assessment of annual replenishable groundwater resources in 1994 and 2007 shows that the groundwater crisis covers a much larger area now and is affecting a significantly higher number of people. Table 1 clearly shows an unfolding crisis of groundwater availability over a relatively short time of around ten years. The numbers of affected population in semi critical to over exploitation category have increased from 7 % to 35 % from 1994 to 2007 respectively. Table 1 Comparative Status of Level of Groundwater Development (1994 and 2007) Level of GW

% of Total Districts

Development 1994

2007

% of

% of Total

Total Area

Population

1994

2007

1994

2007

0-50% (“Safe”)

82

55

89

52

80

45

50-70% (“Safe”)

10

15

07

16

13

20

70-90% (“Semi-Critical”)

04

13

02

14

03

17

90-100% (“Critical”)

01

04

01

05

01

03

>100% (“Overexploited”)

04

14

02

14

03

15

100

100

100

100

100

100

Total

Source: CGWB, 2006 In most cases the deterioration of groundwater quality is an associated problem that increases the severity of the water crisis. Both the government and the groundwater users are equally concerned about the solution, but considering the various characteristics of the groundwater problem, the direct user is helpless in finding a solution to the problem for the following reasons: (i) Groundwater is an invisible resource; (ii) Users are unable to identify recharge and discharge areas; (iii) Groundwater volume estimation involves complex equations; (iv) It is difficult for communities to visualization complex geological aspects; (v) User lack belief in the recharging of depleted aquifers; and (vi) There is a breakdown or ignorance of traditional management practices by scientific communities.


Given this scenario, there is a need to understand groundwater science from the people’s point of view, demystifying it and transferring such science to relevant communities. For this to occur, there is a need for passionate people from the community who are willing to take responsibility to understand sufficient groundwater science to be able to utilise it for the betterment of their community. Experiences of the traditional techniques of managing water in arid to semi-arid regions have already proven that communities inherently had sufficient an understanding before the motorized pumping techniques came into existence. Pumping has meant that the community was no longer able to estimate the water resource potential, as it involved very complex scientific equations and measurements. However, there is still hope that with a thorough understanding of traditional knowledge systems and its synthesis with adequate formal science, community groundwater users can better participate in groundwater management practices. Such competence-equipped community representatives are known as “Bhujal Jankars” BJs (groundwater informed) in the present paper (also see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Bhujal Jankaar: The fusion of three strands of knowledge. The main aim of this paper is to discuss the training and management process used and the lessons learnt from a participatory groundwater management project, titled ‘Managed Aquifer Recharge through Village level Intervention (MARVI). In this project, researchers, rural development facilitators and local villagers worked together to initiate participatory groundwater monitoring in eleven villages from the Dharta and Meghraj watersheds in Rajasthan and Gujarat, India. *Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

Knowledge gap between scientists and village community When we talk about groundwater, geological aspects come directly into the picture from a science perspective, yet because of the complex nature of this particular science very limited knowledge about these aspects has reached the grass-root level of a community. The knowledge gap consistently increases with the depletion of water table as deeper levels of the underling geology need to be understood. Because of this efficient groundwater management practices have not taken off in spite of government making tremendous efforts, especially in regards to water source development and supply management. It is well-known that the growth and development of community competence is not a recent process but began in ancient times, as revealed by many natural resource practices that were developed and adopted by the community over time; its inter-generation transformation was also well synchronized with this traditional development process. Within any community there are many local experts who have the passion to evolve and develop such traditional knowledge and understanding about various subjects including health, vegetation, crops, water etc. In the case of groundwater such experts are known with various traditional terms in India like ‘Bhusunghna’, ‘Harware’ and ‘Jalkala’. Alongwith the development of formal science and education, these traditional systems have gradually disappeared from society. Besides this, as there is a lack of proper documentation in a scientific way of these practices, there is increasing ignorance of such approaches by the community. All together this has badly impacted on participatory groundwater management country wide.

Initiating Bhujal Jaankar Program In current development processes, especially in developing countries, professionals / experts are not self-motivated to work for marginalized communities located in very interior areas, since they can find easier opportunities in other developed sectors. Given such a situation, one of the MARVI project Partner organizations selected was Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT) based in Kachchh, Gujarat, as they had already demonstrated capability in the capacity building of rural youth. ACT had engaged these youth in groundwater management in arid regions by educating them through synthesizing formal geo-hydrological science with traditional water management techniques. The lead author has designed a systematic approach for incremental capacity building for these para professionals based on his working experiences with such youths, whom have been termed Bhujal Jaankar in this paper. The complete capacity


building program, designed as a road map to scale up the processes in the future, has been demonstrated in Kachchh district of Gujarat state. In one block, about 12 youth have been trained in block level water management planning with these youth Involved during the planning phase to help them build an understanding about the use of geo-hydrological aspects for water security plans. A second level of involvement was their engagement in the execution phase, especially to supervise work to meet the set objectives of the activity and to monitor the quality of this implementation. Within the implementation stage these para-professionals were also involved in the data collection within an established observation network in order to monitor the impact of the various activities. During this stage the para-professional’s skills such as site supervision, engineering aspects including the design and estimation of water harvesting structures, and their data collection accuracy and reliability have all improved through mentoring. Finally the data collected was also analysed by these same para-professionals by up-scaling their computer skills and lead to them developing deeper geo-hydrological understanding about the dynamic properties of groundwater. Today these para-workers are totally independent and have registered themselves as a local level resource centre, thereby providing their knowledge and service inputs to local communities and stakeholders, with the advantage that they have a clear emotional attachment with their own land and people. Following from the experience of ACT in Kutchchh, a similar approach has been taken with the BJs’ capacity building program incorporated in the MARVI project locations. Nine BJs in Meghraj (Gujarat) and thirty BJs in Udaipur (Rajasthan) have been recruited and trained in geohydrological mapping and monitoring of groundwater level and quality throughout the project period (Figure 2). It is important to mention here that the MRVI project has paid special attention to this BJs program in regards to its potential for scaling up. There were two reasons for this: (i) the engagement BJs could have with the national level Integrated Watershed Management Program; and (ii) the potential range of partnership BJs could form, ranging from those with local communities; with development facilitator; with national researcher; and with international researchers. From these considerations, the experiences arising from the involvement of the BJ’s as community representatives for GW management at the local level can be viewed as the most convincing evidence of a true participatory approach for groundwater management.


The following sections will discuss the unfolding in the MARVI project of the BJ capacity building process which required various stages, ranging from the selection of the BJs to their training, and the ongoing mentoring processes.

Figure 2. Location of study areas in the MARVI project.


Selection of BJs As described above, this project intended that the BJs would be key people in the participatory monitoring of groundwater, and the communication of research findings and associated consequences to the rest of the community. Thus the selection of the right people and their mentoring to perform this role would determine the effectiveness of the MARVI work in the villages. The original aim was to have five BJs for each village; additionally, an original intention was that one BJ role from each village would be performed by the participating school of the village. In reality this did not happen, mainly due to two reasons; first the rate of the honorarium expected by the BJ could not be met from the actual budget available; and secondly, the number of wells selected to be monitored in each village meant that there was no need to have such a large number of BJs. The school was not used since the training required meant an individual rather than a collective group was needed. While women were encouraged to be BJs, and two villages have one female BJ, it soon became apparent that this ideal could not be achieved as it was considered unsafe for women to measure wells which were remotely located and were at a considerable distance from their homes. In addition the majority of these wells were open wells without any protection walls, and hence slippery and dangerous for women to go near with them wearing Saris. One female BJ was recruited in Rajasthan, as she was a village leader, while in Gujarat the cooperating group (DSC) had already recruited women as extension volunteers (EV) for an IWRM project which complemented the MARVI project activities; In fact some of the activities such as school programmes, awareness campaign, village meetings and the like were done jointly by the BJs and the women EVs. BJ Selection Criteria The following criteria formed the basis for the original selection process for the BJs: • Education – minimum 8th standard • Age – preferably below 35 yr • Demonstrated understanding of water security issues of the region • Past experience in community projects or other relevant project • Stable source of income – not solely reliant on the project honorarium • Motivated, dedicated and conscientious • Good communication skills • Demonstrated rapport with their community • Good local knowledge and networks *Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

The BJ positions were advertised through word of mouth as well as during community meetings. In Gujarat, interviews were held with 20 people from six villages. Out of these 12 persons were selected, but only four of them were eventually retained. Thus, interviews were conducted for a second time and another seven persons were selected. Again two were not retained, and finally 9 BJs were retained (Table 1). In Rajasthan, 30 people expressed their desire to become BJs. All were asked to come to Vidya Bhawan (KVK) on 19th June 2012 to participate in theoretical training: Only 25 persons came to KVK, and all of these 25 BJs were selected and asked to attend field training at Hinta village the following day. The profile of these finally selected BJs for the Dharta watershed are given in Table (2).

Training of BJs The training program of BJs under the MARVI project consisted of various stages, including orientation; land and water resource management planning; and aquifer mapping and monitoring. Besides these three kinds of trainings for the BJs, there were several other capacity building activities designed for the other stakeholders of the MARVI project, including the BJfacilitators, the development facilitators, and some community leaders, with the aim of this capacity building being to sensitize these stakeholders to the importance of the BJ approach for participatory groundwater management. In this paper however, the focus has been restricted to the capacity building activities of the BJs only. Approach and methodology to raise groundwater understanding A prerequisite condition for geo-hydrological understanding is the practical visualization of the BJ own areas and its groundwater characteristics, thus any training has to be designed in such a way as to ensure this happens (Figures 3 and 4). Therefore the use and the generation of various thematic maps are used as a fundamental tool. Further to orient the BJs about the various thematic areas of geo-hydrology, the local language and terminologies have to be used and listed out with proper scientific terms with the help of the local people. Two nonnegotiable principles of this process are the quantification and accuracy of data, so it is vital that experts and experienced persons take care of and continually review these aspects. In essence, three methods of training were used: Lectures and orientations; Practical mapping and data collection; and review and verification.


Figure 3. Training workshop for BJs. Lectures and orientations These were designed in such a way that the BJ could visualise and understand the subject properly. The lectures were not meant to be only traditional classroom lectures, but were organized at a practical site / type locations where the BJ could understand link to proper science by identify specific features that could be experienced. Practical mapping and data collections They were considered to be the most important part of the entire training, as this not only built the capacity of the BJ, but also boosted the confidence of the BJ and built up their self-esteem. Therefore, this entire process is best facilitated and mentored by other experienced BJs. An experienced BJ can teach how to collect data, the methods of different thematic mapping, the estimation of and the calculations involved in planning, how to analyse information and how to transfer this to maps, and the like. It is important to emphasise that a key aspect of this method is the silent building of self-confidence within the BJ by seeing his / her facilitator BJ who had a similar background before his training / experience.


Figure 4. BJs in field measuring groundwater quality. Review and verification This is a most important requirement of this process as it helps to build the confidence of the external stakeholders about the BJs through the authentication and validation of the data and information collected by the BJs. This process should largely be done by the experts involved in the project or by an appropriate community leader, this process itself also helping to increasing the self-confidence of BJs by validating their skills and competence. Keeping the above approach in mind, the capacity building training modules began with a two day orientations of all the BJs through observation of open wells, as this is the only way that groundwater becomes visible. The observation of open wells helps the BJs to understand the importance of surface and subsurface connections of groundwater and enables a link to be made to other scient5ific aspects such as geology, geomorphology, land use, watersheds etc. This orientation was then followed by seven modules of learning how to develop and use *Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

different maps required for integrating land and water resource development plans – these are described below: Base Map module The purpose of this module is to enhance capacity to understand use of various maps for planning and to develop basic mapping skills in candidates as listed below: • • • • • •

•

Understanding Maps and their importance in planning Types and use of different maps e.g. topo-sheets, revenue map Important components of maps such as scale, symbol etc. What is a base map and requirement of base map for water planning Super imposing two different maps for particular purposes despite different scales, by reducing or enlargement of maps and tracing on tracing paper Verification of maps in a particular village with the village people themselves, and incorporating local information onto the base map for further understanding and communication with village people Besides mapping candidates will also collect demographic information about a particular village from talati or Panchayat

Land use classification module The purpose of this module is to understand the types of land use and the calculation of different land use areas with the help of graph paper. This information will later be used for calculating water demand estimations during the water balance module.

Geomorphology map module The purpose of this module is to understand the relationship between various morphological features and associated land use adaptation by communities. Key skills and competence developed is summarised below: • • • •

Identification of various land uses on the map and then delineate these uses through different symbols Understanding of various physiographic processes regionally as well as locally Identification techniques to classify and characterize landforms in each candidate’s village area Understanding the relationship of landform to land use and water availability and use


Water Resource Mapping module The purpose of this module is to understand the existing potential and problems of surface and groundwater resources that exist in a particular village. This module will teach candidates how to collect the required information with the help of local villagers. This module also helps to identify knowledgeable rural people who can also help in planning. A most important outcome of this module is the identification of the aquifers in the village. Key skills and competence developed is summarised below: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Classification (e.g. type, conventional, advance sources etc.) and Importance (use) of water resources Detail an inventory with the help of a survey format Incorporate information about water resources onto a base map e.g. Location GPS use and the location of this information on maps will enhance skills on how to incorporate a wide variety kinds of other sorts of information on maps Preliminary Groundwater quality assessment such as TDS, pH and also the method of how to present this on a map Analysis of long-term well data for identification of aquifers and the behaviour of groundwater in different seasons Monitoring network establishment and the monitoring scheduling Seasonality analysis of surface water structures Approximate quantitative estimation of available surface water in a particular village for different purposes Surface Geology and Geo-hydrology Module: To understand basic geo-hydrology science and its use in planning The hydrology cycle, different climatic parameters, the relationship between climate, surface water and groundwater The occurrence of groundwater in different rock types The classification of different rocks as per water holding capacity i.e. aquifer, aquiclude etc. Geological information and mapping methods, use of clinometers. Understanding about surface geology and the identification of recharge and discharge areas Aquifer characterization based on recharge and discharge capacity Potential recharge zone identification

Watershed and water balance module The purpose of this module is to develop understanding about different aspects of a watershed and its management. Key skills and competence developed is summarised below: •

Delineation of the different watershed(s) of a village and their classification as micro and macro watersheds


• •

• • • • • • • • • •

•

How to draw a ridge line Inflow water and outflow of a watershed, principally the run-off estimation and the computation skills needed for the quantification of the volumes of water involved using different methods Rainfall analysis Run off estimation Groundwater recharge estimation Water demand estimation for the Watershed Domestic demand Irrigation demand Understanding the use of a water balance model to frame water resource development strategy Water Resource Development planning module: How to incorporate the above skills and information into water resource development planning Sharing of geo-hydrological information with villages for appropriate planning of water resource use Based on geo-hydrological characteristics, how to decide on the best strategy and techniques for water resource development in any particular part of the watershed and/or suitable rechargedischarge areas Understanding the various planning tools that are available e.g. geo-hydrological matrix, water deficit or surplus watersheds etc.

Skill building for groundwater management strategies Groundwater management requires a proper comprehensive and consistent data base together with an adequate understanding of the aquifers, as well as other relevant aspects, to derive effective groundwater management strategies. Until now such a database has only been maintained and managed by qualified persons meaning the data and associated information never reached the village level for participative groundwater management. Thus if there is to be proper village level groundwater management, community involvement is essential. This can occur through village level data collection and monitoring processes, but only if there is an adequate understanding of the hydro-geology science involved. The trained BJs are anticipated to be able to fill this gap, but their competence-building also needs to be planned from the start. Using their own well data gained in the first training module, the MARVI BJs have been trained to identify well characteristics and collect well data over the long term, taking observations and monitoring changes in water level and quality on a monthly basis. In this MARVI project the BJs have monitored 360 wells in both the watersheds. *Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

The project allocated a staff member called a BJ facilitator, to assist the BJs and to ensure the reliability of the data collected by the BJs through a random inspection of the data measurement, collection and recording by the BJs. This has ensured the validity of the data collection process and the data collected by the BJs.

Mentoring Post training mentoring of BJs is a most important aspect, particularly as these are community representative and knowledgeable resource persons. Based on the experiences of the MRVI project partners, it has been concluded that three level of mentoring are important to retain and develop the BJs for participatory groundwater management, and this will be discussed in a later section. Mentoring is needed to follow on from the initial Implementation of a program, since in most cases the community knowledge system has been utilized for the initial planning stage, yet it is also important that monitoring of the BJs should followed this initial execution in order to build confidence in the BJs competence among the various stakeholders. The BJ programme provides employment opportunities, but further, after successful implementation, there can be an increased demand for the BJs in other others, as well as increasing their respect amongst their own community. An example can be cited here of Parab – a private limited company set up by the BJs of Abadasa Block of Kachchh district in Gujarat. These BJs have been trained to plan block level drinking water security plans in association with local NGOs including ACT within a government drinking water program. The specific name given to this program was “Pani Thiye Panjo” (water belongs to us). One of the objectives of this program was to establish a service hub of BJs to provide technical support during the project implementation through the maintenance of a decentralized but people-cantered drinking water source plan. The plan was based on local geo-hydrological characteristics of a village. The planning was carried out in 165 villages, while implementation was completed in 80 of these villages under the supervision of these trained BJs. Currently almost all of these 80 villages have a drinking water source capable of providing sufficient water to that village’s population, even after three years of drought. This implementation helped to introduce the BJs to all levels of stakeholders i.e. from the local community level up to the government level. This has proven the competence of the BJs and raised various kinds of further demands for the BJs services such as technical design estimation of water harvesting structures, training of more BJs from different areas, and help to other *Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

projects in data collection and surveys related to water resources. After this these BJs have registered a private limited company to enable them to render their services to various stakeholders. This entire process can be summarised into five stages (Table 3). Table 3. Different stages of BJ development. Stage

BJs

Development Facilitator

Planning

Trainee, Data collection

Trainer

Execution

Technical facilitation, supervision and monitoring

Supporting

Post Execution

Service provider, data collection , mentoring in research methods

Mentoring

Independent Enterprise

Services, monitoring, capacity building of other BJS community etc.

Guidance, Advisor

In the case of the MARVI project, our BJs are at the second stage, where implementation has been planned and advocacy work by the Development facilitators is going on, but the BJs are in the post execution stage of mentoring and support in regards to research methods to use the data and information..

Evaluation of BJ Program Towards the end of the MARVI project, a reflection session was held to draw out the key learning that could be derived from the operation of the BJ programme in the two watersheds, particularly as each had used a slightly different approach. The aim was to make recommendations on the best way to operate such a participative groundwater monitoring and evaluation for decision making project in other areas. This first section will highlight the key aspects, which will then be described in more detail in subsequent sections. Before the start of the project the community was not at all aware of the status and consequences of rainfall and groundwater measures. Now following the MARVI project intervention and the creation of BJ programme, together with the establishment of a weather and groundwater monitoring network, the village communities have begun to understand the value of water in terms of both quality and quantity. Bhujal Jankaars have clearly demonstrated that villagers with no formal research experience can collect data on watertable depth, water *Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

quality and other data that may supplement the data more traditionally collected by scientific researchers. In the States of Rajasthan and Gujarat, the government of India is implementing MGNREGA and IWMP programs with significant funds. Based on the experience in the MARVI project, it is becoming evident that BJs can be the agents of change in village communities for sustainable groundwater management thereby improving livelihoods. Small amounts of funding from these government programs can go a long way in improving the groundwater situation and thereby reducing poverty, while also limiting the migration of rural people to urban areas in search of alternative ways to improve their livelihood. Transformation of Villagers as BJs For a successful BJ programme, it was felt that the training of the facilitating organisation such as an NGO or other community organisation was just as important, if different in content, to the training of the BJs. These organisations need to provide the oversight and mentoring of the BJs. It was felt that the worldview of their role often needed to be changed to a more participative and empowering one. It was noted that this MARVI project represented the first occasion these villagers as represented by the BJs had connected directly with scientists, and vice-versa. Empowering the BJs with groundwater literacy changed them, enabling them to consider specific solutions around groundwater issues for particular situations, as well as helping them to better understand appropriate crop selection. It raised issues of 'ownership' of groundwater, of water being a 'common pool' resource, of the need to protect groundwater and maintain its quality, and of the integration of indigenous knowledge with scientific knowledge, BJs soon came to acknowledge the need for more cooperation (even though they were unsure as to how to achieve this), with a need for a change in approach and for new developments to meet the challenges of the revealed water limitations. They (the BJs) would be at the forefront of adaptation to new practices and technologies, and the 'de-mystification' of groundwater issues for the rest of the villagers. The BJs were able to provide informative responses to questions such as ‘How much groundwater is there?’ What is happening to the water table over the seasons? What can farmers do to respond to water limitations such as with recharge structures; revised cropping plans; different irrigation methods; and well locations? Capacity building of partners Conceptualising and implementing the BJ programme required a new way of thinking about engaging farmers and other village communities in order to recognise the problem of the *Paper presented at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, November 3-5, 2015, Canberra, Australia.

worsening groundwater situation in their area. It required an understanding of adult learning approaches and valuing BJs as ‘citizen scientist’ who have a role beyond data collection. It was a slow process to gain the confidence of the BJs that what they are doing was worthwhile for them and their village communities. This required the MARVI partners to be persistent in their mission and develop trust and rapport with the BJs, otherwise the initial cooperation would have been more limited. Once the BJs had internalised the importance of their role in the project, they started performing the assigned duties as per the requirements of the programme. This was more so because our MARVI aim was to create volunteers and not employees of the programme. Validation of the measurement activity was necessary, and it was found that some BJs were initially not doing this properly, but we did not create a situation that caused embarrassments of the BJs, rather they were gently put on the right track. Had this not occurred, rather than being ambassadors of the program they might well have become its opponent and then things have been much more difficult for the MARVI team. Whatever help other specialists in the organization were giving, this was also taken gracefully by the MARVI team, and with due respect. If we did not give such respect to these other personnel, they also may have creating additional hurdles for our routine works The implementation of the BJ programme required technical, adult learning and extension skills. Individually each of the MARVI partners did not have all these required skills and capacity for the BJ program implementation, but the programme enabled each partner to learn from one-another and build their own capacity. For example, DSC did not have capacity for geohydrology and other related aspects but ACT provided the much needed support. Similarly, VBKVK did not have the facilities and technical knowhow to perform water quality testing but they worked closely with MPUAT on this aspect. Similarly, the competence for the design of crop demonstrations and data analysis was not available within the project partners in India but it was supported by UWS from Australia.

Conclusions The MARVI project has demonstrated how a BJ program can improve both their and their village’s capacity to scientifically map, monitor, and manage village aquifers and thereby improve the self-sustainability of rural life and livelihoods of these villagers. In addition this paper has also discussed ways to minimize the knowledge gap between farmers and scientists


through the demonstration of participatory groundwater management in semi-arid regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan States of Western India.

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