Evaluation of stakeholder knowledge and practices of water use management strategy: Observations from a questionnaire survey in Southern India

Freshwater resources remain unequally distributed in time and space around the world. Water resource frameworks should be designed, planned, and overseen in order to fully meet current and future social and economic objectives. The difficulties grow as the system gets bigger and more complex, with varying spatial distribution of water and insufficient resources, making water re-distribution more difficult. The current study fills such gaps by evaluating several factors influencing conjunctive management. In the current study, an effort has been made to compile the best data on water use, agricultural practises, socioeconomic status, and so on through field surveys in order to comprehend the reality on the ground. Additionally, investigations are being conducted into the causes and barriers that are most likely to have slowed the implementation of conjunctive use of available water resources. Two comprehensive socioeconomic surveys were conducted using the quantitative research methodology in a river basin in Southern India, and the results clearly show that stakeholders are unaware of the most effective agricultural water management techniques and the rationale behind modern irrigation systems. Over ninety-five percent of the total respondents were farmers, with only five percent having basic knowledge of watershed development and conjunctive use water management. The identified gaps and the inference made in the study are in the context of conjunctive water management of agricultural water. The current work may provide useful information on the baseline scenarios for upcoming agricultural water management plans, as well as a useful tool for achieving significant milestones in the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the prepared questionnaire and the data gathered for the study may also be helpful to decision-makers.