ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Hum. Dyn.
Sec. Population, Environment and Development
Socio-Hydrogeological Approach for Strengthening Groundwater Management (Case Study of The Brantas-Metro Groundwater Basin, Malang, East Java Province, Indonesia)
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Geography, State University of Malang, Malang, Indonesia
- 2Environmental Science Program, Post Graduate School, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
- 3Department of Water Resource Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
- 4Faculty of Administrative Sciences, University of Brawijaya, Malang, East Java, Indonesia
- 5Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Brawijaya, Kota Malang, Indonesia
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Groundwater sustainability in rapidly developing regions is increasingly threatened by over-extraction, land-use conversion, and limited public engagement in water governance. Socio-hydrogeology offers a multidisciplinary framework for understanding the reciprocal interactions between human behavior and groundwater conditions; however, its application remains limited, particularly in contexts where user and non-user groundwater group coexist. This study investigates the socio-hydrogeological factors shaping groundwater management in the Brantas–Metro Groundwater Basin, East Java, Indonesia—an area experiencing severe aquifer stress. A mixed-methods survey of respondents was conducted using a validated and reliable questionnaire representing six dimensions of socio-hydrogeology. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to identify the dominant latent factors influencing community responses. Three key variables emerged: Community Awareness, Community Participation, and the Ability to Accept and Adapt to Information, Technology, and Disaster Risks. The PCA results highlight six principal socio-hydrogeological factors: (1) perceived impacts of over-pumping, (2) the importance of groundwater information, (3) effectiveness of groundwater information dissemination, (4) willingness to participate, (5) recognition of management ineffectiveness, and (6) the need for hydrogeologist involvement. Notably, groundwater users demonstrated higher self-imposed conservation behaviors, whereas non-users relied more on external institutional support. Despite good conceptual understanding of groundwater issues, both groups exhibited reluctance to participate in management programs, revealing a persistent knowledge-action gap. The findings underscore the need for strengthened participatory governance, targeted information diffusion, and expert-supported community engagement to enhance groundwater resilience in stressed basins.
Keywords: Socio-hydrogeology, Hydrogeology, groundwater management, CommunityAwareness, Community participation
Received: 16 Mar 2025; Accepted: 16 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Masitoh, Bisri, Supriyono and Wahyudi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ferryati Masitoh
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