MARVIManaging Aquifer Recharge & Sustaining Groundwater Use through Village level intervention

MARVI: Managing Aquifer Recharge & Sustaining Groundwater Use through Village level intervention

Water beneath us.
Knowledge between us.

MARVI puts groundwater science in the hands of the people who depend on it—farmers, schools, researchers and communities working together for water that lasts!

Explore the approach Discover OurWater
MARVI researchers and community members standing together in a green field
Field note / India
Community + science
A shared resource becomes visible through shared observation.

The central question

MARVI at a glance

How can a village understand an invisible shared resource—and decide its future together?
2012The MARVI field journey began
630Bhujal Jankaars trained
105Number of female BJs trained
505Number of male Bjs trained
2908Number of wells monitored

The MARVI approach

Science becomes useful when it becomes local.

The aim is to improve irrigation-water security and rural livelihoods by making the invisible visible.

Villagers and researchers meeting in the fieldThe MARVI approachMARVI brings technical knowledge, community experience and practical monitoring together at village level.Planning the 4-S strategy togetherThe MARVI 4-S StrategySense, Store, Share, Sustain: how a village manages the aquifer it shares.Bhujal Jankaars in field trainingBhujal Jankaars“Groundwater informed”: local volunteers who connect careful observation with community knowledge and collective action.A village recharge pondWhy groundwater?From 10–15 metres in the 1960s to 30–40 metres today.

Knowledge & resources

PublicationsLearn about groundwaterVideosGroundwater game

Latest stories

The Brilliant · 02 Jul 2024How a grassroots revolution is safeguarding groundwater, one well at a timeA profile of Professor Basant Maheshwari and MARVI’s journey from rural India to a wider participatory model.ACIAR · 17 Sep 2024People power delivers groundwater solutions in IndiaHow Bhujal Jankaars, recharge, MyWell and community decisions became a practical approach.Government of India · 14 Oct 2020India–Australia cooperation for sustainable groundwaterA memorandum supporting groundwater training, education, research and practical action.

People & Partners

A transdisciplinary project, built across borders.

Researchers, practitioners and village volunteers in India and Australia working as one team. Collaborating partners: Current - Western Sydney University (Lead); Development Support Centre; Arid Communities and Technologies; Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture & Technology; Vidya Bhawan Krishi Vigyan Kendra; Mekong Futures Research Institute. Past: CSIRO and IWMI

People & Partners

Collaborate with MARVI

Work with MARVI

MARVI works with communities, governments, NGOs, researchers and educators interested in practical approaches to groundwater stewardship.

Use the MARVI approachMARVI brings technical knowledge, community experience and practical monitoring together at village level.Research collaborationThe project works across hydrology, hydrogeology, agronomy, economics and social science. The result is not a report left on a shelf, but knowledge a community can use.Training & capacity buildingThese trained volunteers measure wells, rainfall, water quality and check dams. They interpret local patterns, explain them in the community’s own language and help farmers see that groundwater is both limited and shared.