Participatory approaches for water monitoring and harvesting: Case study from India

Abstract

Abstract North Gujarat in India currently extracts three billion cubic meters of groundwater per year, which is up to 95% of the groundwater resources available in the region. This unsustainable abstraction has led to changes in groundwater levels and created water scarcity in many parts of the region. To address these issues, integrated groundwater resource management is required, which should be driven by good quality and quantity of groundwater data. However, current groundwater data are scarce; thus, new, affordable monitoring approaches are necessary. Participatory and community-based monitoring involving citizen scientists provides an approach to complement existing government-run monitoring. This study demonstrates the feasibility of developing a large-scale groundwater level monitoring wells network by directly involving farmers in two agriculturally-dominated blocks in North Gujarat, India. First, long-term groundwater level data for government-monitored wells were analyzed, and the regions lacking monitoring were identified. Then a network of 43 farmers was established through the field survey, who were trained to provide groundwater level observations for their wells every month. The data collected through the field survey were then integrated with the data from the existing government monitoring programs to understand the groundwater dynamics in the region. Results for the post-monsoon season 2022 show that the groundwater levels in Unjha block (Mehsana district) have declined to more than 100 meters below ground level due to unsustainable pumping for irrigation. The evaluation of the participatory approach showed that concern for existing groundwater challenges, social inclusion and contribution to scientific knowledge were the top three reasons that motivated farmers to participate in this research. Of the total volunteering farmers, 71% have shown interest in providing long-term observations for up to 3 years, and 57% agreed to provide observations weekly. Additionally, 70% of the farmers agreed to engage fellow farmers in groundwater monitoring, and 50% agreed to train new farmers. Thus, this study shows that farmers can play an important role in improving the existing challenges of groundwater monitoring through participatory training, and the integration of primary and secondary data can lead to better decision-making regarding need for well construction, crop selection, recharge methods and pathways for sustainable groundwater management.