Participatory Model Calibration for Improving Resource Management Systems: Case Study of Rainwater Harvesting in an Indian Village

Abstract

While planning resource management systems in rural areas, it is important to consider criteria that are specific to the local social conditions. Such criteria might change from one region to another and are hence best identified using a participatory approach. In this work, we propose a participatory framework to identify such criteria and derive their weights. These identified criteria and their weights are used as parameters to develop a quantitative model for evaluating efficiency of each system. Such a model can serve as a support tool for stakeholders to simulate and analyze “what‐if” scenarios, evaluate alternatives, and select one which best satisfies their requirements. We use existing systems to test the model by comparing efficiencies evaluated by the model to efficiencies perceived by the stakeholders. The model is calibrated by repeating the process until statistically significant correlation is achieved between evaluated and perceived efficiencies. The novelty of the proposed framework lies in treating efficiencies perceived by the stakeholders as the ground truth since they know these systems well and are their ultimate users. The framework is successfully demonstrated using case study of rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in an Indian village. The resulting calibrated model can be used to plan new RWH systems in this region and similar regions elsewhere. The framework can be used to plan other resource management systems in various regions.

Tools and methods in participatory modeling: Selecting the right tool for the job

“…When there is significant variability among weights obtained from different stakeholders, it may be challenging to identify an appropriate "group summary" metric. Means (Ryu et al, 2011;Tian et al, 2013), medians (Kolagani et al, 2015), and even the geometric mean (Saengsupavanich, 2013) have been proposed. Some modelers preserve the range of values by propagating the variability across stakeholders through the model using the Monte Carlo simulation approach (Rosenbloom, 1996;Hauser and Tadikamalla, 1996;Lafleur, 2011;Kolagani et al, 2016).…”

“…4). Emphasis was placed on the use of simple calculations and visualizations to plan and implement rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems (Kolagani et al, 2015) and other solutions that were found most appropriate to the situation.…”

Stakeholder Roles and Perspectives on Sedimentation Management in Small-Scale Irrigation Schemes in Ethiopia

“…Yet, without technology appropriation by farmers (i.e., farmers' adoption and adaptation of modern technology to their own setting), modernization of farmer-managed irrigation schemes may actually aggravate the problem of excessive sedimentation. This is because farmers' knowledge about the sedimentation problem may be overlooked and inadequate information and resources/technologies may be available locally for the farmers to undertake operation and maintenance of the system, whereas farmers are the best sources of information and knowledge about their localities [24][25][26][27].…”

A framework for optimal rank identification of resource management systems using probabilistic approaches in analytic hierarchy process

“…The fact that the proliferation of tube wells and the availability of power may also instigate drought is often disregarded. Interestingly, along with other probable causes, overexploitation and inadequate rain water harvesting (RWH) structures may be counted as one of the contributing factors to droughts (Kolagani et al, 2015). RWH structures are defined as small structures used to collect rainwater from stream flows and store it for future usage like agriculture, drinking water for cattle, fisheries, and eventually contribute in improving groundwater levels (Mohanty et al, 2020;Eludoyin et al, 2021).…”

“…Notably, stakeholder participation has yielded better results with fewer conflicts and helped develop a framework using AHP toward facilitating rank alternatives (Kolagani et al, 2015). Researchers employed AHP to analyze drinking water sustainability in India (Poonia & Punia, 2018).…”