Udaipur: MARVI project hasbeenrunningformorethan seven years in Rajasthan and Gujarat. There have been a number of important outputs and they are being launched widespread use by Shri Rajendra Singh jThe The MARVI project is focused on developing a village level participatory approach, models and tools to assist in improving groundwater supplies and reducing its demand through thedirectinvolvementoffarmers and other affected stakeholders. Aunique feature of MARVI is the use of scientific measurementsby citizens through the engagement of Farmer volunteers, called BJs (Bhujal Jankaar – a Hindi word meaning ‘groundwater informed’). With appropriate training and capacity building, BJs monitor groundwater levels and quality, making sense from a village perspective of what is happening to village groundwater availability. BJs convey this informationtofarmersand others in their own language. Groundwater level represents the integration of recharge, pumping and flow processesandisadirectmeasure of groundwater availability and the success of any collectivemanagementpractices. BJs are an effective, trusted andvaluableinterfacebetween village communities and governmentagencies,NGOsand researchers. Thefirstphaseduring2011- 2017 and the second phase is for another three years. The total funding from Au s tr a l i a n Ce n tr e fo r International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) was $1.28 million over four years. The additionalfundingof$223,000 has been provided by ACIAR a n d Au s tr a l i a n Wa te r Partnership(DFAT)for second phase of the project. MARVI project was led by Western Sydney University and the Project Leader is ProfessorBasantMaheshwari. CSIRO Land & Water was a collaborative partner from Australia. The partners from India included Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, International Water Management Institute, DevelopmentSupportCentre, Ari d Co m m u n i ti e s a n d Technologies and Vidya BhawanKrishiVigyanKendra. The other partners who joined later were Mekong Futures Institute (Laos) and Carnegie Melon University (Adelaide). There were a total of 32 researchers and 36 farmer researchers in this project The research in MARVI project focused on two multivillage watersheds, the Meghraj watershed in Aravali district of Gujarat and the Dharta watershed in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. Both watersheds have hardrock aquifers. The main aims were: (i) enable local villagers to monitor groundwater (ii) design participatory processes to assist village level discovery and implementation of solutions for sustaining groundwater use and improved livelihoods; (iii) establish a comprehensive database about groundwaterlevelfluctuations, availabilityandriverbedstructures toaugmentrecharge(iv) advance groundwater knowledge and understanding of farmers, local communities (including schools) and decision makers; and (v) provide tools for estimating annual groundwater recharge, water availability and crop demand. Overall,thefocus is toimprove cooperative decision making for sustainable groundwater use. Watertable fluctuations in 110wells intheMeghrajwatershed and 250 dug wells in the Dharta watershed were monitored by BJs and groundwater sensors over four years. A number of checkdams were monitored to understand their recharge performance and effects on groundwater availability on nearby wells. An SMS based data collection system and a smart phone app called MyWell, for both Android and iOS platforms,wasdevelopedtoassist in the easy collection of watertable depth and rainfall data and to visualise data and make them available on the web. A detailed socio-economicstudy,alongwithcropdemonstrations,engagementthrough PhotoVoice and community forums, was conducted to understand farmers’ needs and capacities and explore what changes will work for future groundwater management strategies. AravaliandUdaipurdistricts at the beginning and now it is spreading in different parts of Gu j a r a t, Ra j a s th a n , Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. 1. What were the baseline water scarcity conditions? The groundwater levels were declining and farmers were in despair as to what is the way forward to maintain theirlivelihood.Farmers inthe two watersheds had hardly any data on the groundwater level fluctuations, rainfall and water quality for their villages. As such, they were feeling hopelessness in terms of their groundwaterfuturesandmany of them have given up hope and encouraging their children to go cities in search of employment. 2. Thevillagesanddistricts benefited by the MARVI Project The MARVI project helped them to monitor groundwater level and understand how groundwater is fluctuating, whataretheoptionstouseless water and still produce crops and improve livelihood. 3. Funding The funding for this study was provided by Australian Centre for International Agri cultural Resear ch; $1280000. 4.Impactoftheinitiativeon the livelihood of the local communities An approach for community based, participatory groundwater monitoring and managementhasbeendeveloped through a close collaboration with research and developmentagenciesandvillage communities. Watertabledatamonitored by both farmer volunteers and sensorshaveenabledtheestimation of local hydro-geologic parameters and the development of a simple groundwater balance. The monitoring of rainfall and water levels in checkdams has led to partition of aquiferrechargeduetocheckdams and natural recharge in relationtosubsequentgroundwater use. The MyWell App developed will help in easy collection of watertable, rainfall and checkdam water level data from any location in India and making those data available on the web. Local farmer volunteers are proving to be significant change agents and through their scientific measurement, understanding and communication in the two watersheds. They are also an important interfacebetweenresearchers and village communities. As result of the effective engagement of village communities and evidence shown through local data collected over the last four years, there is an indication that farmers nowhavestartedtounderstand theirlocalgroundwatersystem, accept that groundwater is limited and that the falling watertable is a village level issue and it needs to be tackled at the village level.The work through MARVI has strengthenedthefarmers’view that individual effort alone will not work to solve their groundwater problem. The groundwater level data reveals that deepening wells or installing deepertubewellsislikesnatchingeach-others’groundwater, and overall no extra water is to be gained by drilling deeper. They have already taken measures to stop deeper drilling, to remove sediment from recharge structures, to determinerabi cropareas from post-monsoon groundwater levelsandtoimprovemulching and water use efficiency, and diversify crop types. The farming community in the two watersheds is now debating the concept of sharing groundwater through ‘village groundwater cooperatives’ (VGC). The concept of water productivity, rather than crop productivity, is gaining momentum among the farmers. These are important outcomes from MARVI. 5. How the self-sustainability of the initiative is ensured? The formation of Village GroundwaterCooperativesby local communities in both watershed is a sign of moving towards self-sustainability of MARVI in the two watersheds and beyond. 6.Outscaling of MARVI in other parts of India There have been several visits by government agencies at the State and Central for replication of MARVI in newJalShakti initiatives inthe country. There have been some follow up from individuals in Maharashtra, Andhra Pr a d e s h , Ka r n a ta k a , Uttarakhand,WestBengaland other parts of India.