Douglas J. Merrey

Boundaries of Consent: Stakeholder Representation in River Basin Management in Mexico and South Africa

Abstract Increasing the capacity of water users to influence decision-making is crucial in river basin management reforms. This article assesses emerging forums for river basin management in Mexico and South Africa and concludes that the pace of democratization of water management in both is slow. Mexico is characterized by continued government dominance and attempts to include already organized stakeholders in decision-making, while substantive stakeholder representation is lacking. South Africa is placing emphasis on social mobilization and transformation, leading to a slower implementation process and struggles over the redistribution of resources. While not a panacea, moving from stakeholder participation to substantive stakeholder representation in river basin management holds more promise of achieving equitable water management.

Cumulative relative water supply: A methodology for assessing irrigation system performance

This paper discusses the usefulness and limitations of using the concept of Relative Water Supply (RWS) for evaluating the performance of irrigation systems, with special reference to systems irrigating rice. It then describes and demonstrates the use of a modification of RWS called Cumulative Relative Water Supply (CRWS), which can be used in conjunction with RWS. The advantage of CRWS is that it provides a measure of the cumulated RWS throughout a season, both in absolute terms at any given time, and in terms of the overall seasonal trend. It allows comparison of performance of an irrigation system or subsystem both to the target, and to other systems or subsystems. It can therefore be used both as an analytical tool by researchers, and as an operational tool by managers. The use of CRWS in conjunction with RWS is illustrated with examples from Sri Lanka.

Farmers' Perception of Water Management under Drought Conditions in the Upper Awash Basin, Ethiopia

A survey was conducted in the Upper Awash River Basin, Ethiopia, to assess agricultural water management practices adopted by the farmers under drought conditions. The results show that on average drought prevails in the area once every two years and causes damage to both crops and livestock. Consequently, under such drought conditions, the farming communities have adopted various coping strategies and important among them are the sale of labour and sale of livestock and their products. The survey results also reveal that farmers in the rainfed agriculture areas practise mainly contour bunding to mitigate drought impacts.

Water resources planning and management in the Olifants Basin of South Africa: past, present and future

In Svendsen, Mark (Ed.). Irrigation and river basin management: options for governance and institutions. Wallingford, UK: CABI; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Are good intentions leading to good outcomes? Continuities in social, economic and hydro-political trajectories in the Olifants River basin, South Africa.

Beginning in the early 19th century, land and water resources in South Africa’s Olifants basin were systematically mobilized to benefit commercial agriculture, mines and industries owned by a tiny minority of the population. During the 20th century, the majority African population was increasingly confined to small areas of the basin having little agricultural potential or access to water. This resulted in dramatic contrasts between the wealthy minority and the extremely poor majority. Since the early 1990s, under the new democratic regime, South Africa’s constitution, with its basic rights guarantees, including access to water, and its world-famous Water Act, intended both to reverse the wrongs of the past and to conserve scarce water resources for future generations, have raised high expectations. The Water Act is being implemented by politicians and professionals whose good intentions cannot be questioned. However, to date, access to water remains highly inequitable in the Olifants basin, and socio-economic well-being is improving very slowly. Setting the Physical Scene

Managing Groundwater in Hard-rock Areas through Agro-well Design and Development

Water shortage in the dry season is a major problem facing agriculture in the dry and intermediate zones of Sri Lanka. Large diameter wells (agro-wells) have been introduced to use the groundwater as a supplement to rainfall. The underlying crystalline hard-rock formations have very low storage and transmissivity, which limit the groundwater resource. The haphazard development of agro-wells may seriously threaten sustainable groundwater use in the future. Based on field studies and a groundwater hydrological model, this paper explains a methodology for determining the dimensions of agro-wells that limit a farmer to abstracting no more than the volume of water recharged under his/her land. This methodology can be used to regulate groundwater in hard-rock aquifers by identifying the safe volume of water that can be abstracted, establishing the optimum well dimensions for constructing a new well, and matching crop-water requirements to the abstractable volume of water. Farmers themselves can regulate groundw...

New Directions in Water Research: IWMI at the Threshold of the Twenty-first Century

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has made important changes in the thrust of its research programmesince 1995. These new thrusts include attention to the implications of increasing water scarcity at the global level; the adoption of a river basin paradigm leading to new insights into opportunities for water conservation and productivity; application of new information technologies and quantitative analytical techniques; and a stronger focus on policy, institutional issues, health and environment, and social inequities in access to water. This paper describes these changes and provides an overview of the remaining papers in this special issue of Water Resources Development.

Providing irrigation services in water-scarce basins: representation and support

In Svendsen, Mark (Ed.). Irrigation and river basin management: options for governance and institutions. Wallingford, UK: CABI; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Is 'social cooperation' for traditional irrigation, while 'technology' is for motor pump irrigation?

This paper calls attention to the importance of social cooperation in irrigation farming. It argues that a mere focus on the technical aspect of irrigation, disregarding its social aspects undermines the long-term benefits of irrigation to rural livelihoods. This assertion draws on lessons from small-irrigation practices in Fogera, in the Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia, where I conducted fieldwork-based qualitative research. In recent years irrigation farming has drawn a growing interest among farmers in rural Fogera. Farmers practise small-scale irrigation that includes traditional irrigation and motor pump irrigation. Farmers assert that irrigation has brought farming benefits through cultivation of more crops as well as new crops that serve food and cash purposes. Such benefits have particularly spurred the enthusiasm for motor pump irrigation. However, the practice of motor pump irrigation largely relies on the motor-pump technology, overlooking the social scheme of irrigation. While traditional irrigation involves more social cooperation involving joint activities, water allocations and irrigation schedules, lack of social cooperation and such institutional conditions is widespread in motor pump irrigation. Local classification of irrigation practices also associate the mechanism of irrigation use and management including water use regulations and water use turns with traditional irrigation in contrast to motor pump irrigation. The neglect of social cooperation within current practices of motor pump irrigation will have significant adverse implications on long-term practices. Farmers have been already concerned about how competitions for water are growing, limiting the duration of water availability and creating water shortage. The study suggests that while farmers’ willingness to practise motor pump irrigation in Fogera has been stimulated by its livelihood benefits, sustained benefits of this irrigation scheme require social cooperation and feasible institutional conditions that can mediate water usage across user villages.