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This article offers an approach to the study of the evolution, spread and uptake of integrated water resources management (IWRM). Specifically, it looks at the flow of IWRM as an idea in international and national fora, its translation and adoption into national contexts, and the on-the-ground practices of IWRM. Research carried out in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique provides empirical insights into the politics of IWRM implementation in southern Africa, the interface between international and national interests in shaping water policies in specific country contexts, and the on-the-ground challenges of addressing equity, redress and the reallocation of water.

Canal design for sediment transport requires the use of sediment transport predictors. The predictors are derived for a small range of flows and mostly considered for wide canals. The use of these equations in irrigation canals needs some adaptation. In this study we have used a depth-averaged logarithmic velocity distribution in a canal section to compute the sediment transport rate for different predictors under a different range of hydraulic and sediment characteristics. The predictability of the predictors was improved when tested with the selected Brownlie data for rectangular non-wide canals. A rational canal design approach is proposed that uses the sediment transport predictors after applying a correction. The proposed approach has been tested under changing water flows and sediment concentration using the mathematical model SETRIC. The field data of secondary canal S9 of the Sunsari Morang Irrigation Scheme in Nepal have been used. If the canal had been designed with the proposed method there would have been less deposition in the canal network.

Drip irrigation has long been promoted as a promising way to meet today's world water, food and poverty challenges. In most scientific and policy documents, drip irrigation is framed as a technological innovation with definitive intrinsic characteristics—that of efficiency, productivity and modernity. Based on evidence from North and West Africa as well as South Asia, we show that there are multiple actors involved in shaping this imagery, the legitimacy of which largely stems from an engineering perspective that treats technology and potential as ‘truths’ that exist independently of the context of use. Rather than ascribing the advent of drip irrigation as a successful technology to intrinsic technical features, this paper proposes to see it as grounded in the ability drip irrigation has to lend itself to multiple contexts and discourses that articulate desirable futures. We thus adopt a view of technology whereby the ‘real’ (i.e. the drip irrigation hardware) acquires its characteristics only through, and within, the network of institutions, discourses and practices that enact it. Such a perspective sheds light on the iterative alignments that take place between hardware and context and treat these as inherent features, rather than externalities, of the innovation process.

A “policy as process” perspective is adopted to analyze the early period of water users associations (WUAs) in Uzbekistan (2000–2006). The article is based on extensive fieldwork (in 2005–2006) and analysis of policy and other relevant documents. It is shown that WUAs have a role and logic beyond water management and are used by the state as instruments with which to monitor and regulate “state-ordered” agricultural production. Through a state-centric policy process with room for local experimentation, the WUA was fit into the socio-political landscape of continued state control and the increased role of individualized risks and benefits.

In the context of the prevalent neo-liberal discourse on rural development through improved markets, involvement of companies and a strong reliance on foreign investors this article examines the vulnerable position of smallholder irrigators and their water rights. Through the parallel analysis of three contrasting cases of smallholder irrigation in Mozambique and a comparison with formal Mozambican law, it is shown that a big gap exists between formal water rights and water rights in practice. For each case, it is shown how land and water rights are connected and how a successful defence of land rights provides a good basis for a defence of smallholder water rights. Furthermore, as productivity and efficiency arguments are prominent and influential, those smallholders who are able to turn their use into the production of economic value manage best to materialise their claims on both land and water. The paper concludes with recommendations to strengthen the position of smallholders in response to increasing threats of land and water grabbing.

Irrigation schemes with sediment-laden water are generally performing significantly below expectation and potential. Managing such irrigation schemes is challenging as in most cases the management aspects of sediment transport were not included in the design process and in some cases the proposed management plans are difficult to follow. The sediment transport process is affected by the flow conditions in the canal, and the latter are affected by the canal operation modes. Hence, system management is one of the important aspects that influence the sediment transport process. The mathematical model SETRIC has been used to analyse the existing management mode and its effect on the sediment transport process of the Sunsari Morang Irrigation Scheme in Nepal. Evaluation showed that the sub-secondary canals of the Secondary Canal S9 have different sediment transport capacities. Some canals are facing more deposition problems than others. The problem is further increased by the existing water delivery mode. The modelling results show that it is possible to reduce sedimentation problems by improving existing water management practices. The proposed water management plan, based on the existing infrastructure, could be implemented to address the sediment transport problems in this scheme and other schemes with appropriate adaptation

Closed-off tidal basin reclamation represents a special type of reclamation. In several countries enclosing dams have been built to close off estuaries, shallow seas, or lagoons, and lands up to 5~6¿m - MSL (below mean sea level) have been reclaimed in the former tidal basins. Although these areas were generally primarily reclaimed for agriculture, a second-stage development may have taken place where parts of these lands were transferred to urban and industrial use. The originally saline water in the created reservoirs was transformed to fresh water that may be used for irrigation, domestic and/or industrial water supply. In several of these reservoirs there are water quality problems, primarily due to pollution in upstream parts of the river basins. In 2007 the Enclosing Dam of the Zuiderzee Scheme in the Netherlands had existed for 75¿years. This occasion was used to conduct a global inventory of closed-off tidal basin reclamation on which this paper is based. The study shows that closed-off tidal basin reclamation concerns 25 schemes with a total area of 738 000¿ha, of which 337 000¿ha have been reclaimed and 401 000¿ha freshwater reservoirs have been created. This paper presents a summarized overview. Attention is paid to safety, land use and changes in it, development of water quality in the reservoirs, as well as to land subsidence and possible impacts of climate change, like rise in mean sea level. In time this may have implications for safety of the deep polders, the management of the reservoirs as well as for the sustainable development of tidal areas in the future. These items are presented for four major tidal reclamation schemes: the Zuiderzee Scheme in the Netherlands, the Saemangeum Scheme in South Korea, the Kuttanad Region in India and the Hachirogata Scheme in Japan

In the last two decades, international donors have promoted Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) as an international remedy to management problems in government irrigation systems in many developing countries. This article analyses the political processes that shape IMT policy formulation and implementation in Indonesia. It links IMT with the issue of bureaucratic reform and argues that its potential to address current problems in government irrigation systems cannot be achieved if the irrigation agency is not convinced about the need for management transfer. IMT’s significance cannot be measured only through IMT outcomes and impacts, without linking these with how the irrigation agency perceives the idea of management transfer in the first place, how this perception (re)defines the agency’s position in IMT, and how it shapes the agency’s action and strategy in the policy formulation and implementation. I illustrate how the irrigation agency contested the idea of management transfer by referring to IMT policy adoption in 1987 and its renewal in 1999. The article concludes that for management transfer to be meaningful it is pertinent that the issue of bureaucratic reform is incorporated into current policy discussions.

The promotion of local governance and the transfer of water management responsibilities to water user associations (WUAs) have been central in water reform processes throughout the world, including in the reforms that took place in post-apartheid South Africa. This paper reflects on the notions of inclusion and representation as put forward by the various actors involved in the establishment of a WUA in a tertiary catchment in the Thukela River Basin. The paper describes how the WUA in the study catchment came to be dominated by commercial farmers, despite the South African government's aim to redress the inequities of the past by the inclusion and representation of historically disadvantaged individuals. The authors argue that the notions of inclusion and representation as embedded in the concept of the WUA are highly contested and more aligned with the institutional settings familiar to the commercial farmers. The paper concludes that, unless the inherently political nature of the participatory process is recognized and the different institutional settings become part of the negotiation process of the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of progressive collaboration at catchment level, the establishment of the WUA in the study catchment will not contribute to achieving the envisioned transformation.

Media stories often speak of a future dominated by large-scale water wars. Rather less attention has been paid to the way water conflicts already play out at local levels and form part of people’s everyday lives. Based on case study studies from Vietnam, Bolivia and Zambia, this paper examines the strategies of poor households in local water conflicts. It is shown how such households may not only engage actively in collaborative water management but may also apply risk aversion strategies when faced with powerful adversaries in conflict situations. It is further shown how dependency relations between poor and wealthy households can reduce the scope of action for the poor in water conflicts. As a result, poor households can be forced to abstain from defending their water resources in order to maintain socio-economic and political ties with the very same households that oppose them in water conflicts. The paper concludes by briefly discussing how the poorest can be supported in local water conflicts. This includes ensuring that alternative spaces for expressing grievances exist and are accessible; facilitating that water sharing agreements and rights are clearly stipulated and monitored; and working beyond water governance to reduce the socio-economic dependency-relations of poor households

The Lockyer Valley is an important agricultural area experiencing water insecurity, which causes a decrease in agricultural production. Regional authorities are initiating a wastewater reclamation project conveying treated municipal wastewater to water users, including potentially the Lockyer Valley. This additional (and essentially reliable) water source will change farming options and practices. A participatory modelling approach was used to analyse the consequences of changed water availability at the farm scale. This approach incorporates both farmer and scientist knowledge and gives due attention to non-technical issues like perception and acceptance. Two cropping patterns were worked out to forecast the effects on water deficit and crop yield in the projected situation.

Drip irrigation is widely recognized as potentially one of the most efficient irrigation methods. However, this efficiency is often not achieved because systems are not always well designed or maintained and many farmers lack the tools to assess the crop water requirements and to monitor the soil moisture conditions in the field. There is a vast amount of literature on irrigation scheduling but little literature takes scientific information the next step by preparing practical guidelines for smallholder farmers. There is a large and widening gap between the state of the art irrigation scheduling tools and current on-farm irrigation practices. Most farmers find current irrigation scheduling tools overwhelming and lack the means and skills to install and operate them. It is suggested that farmers need simple, cheap and more comprehensive support tools to achieve improved irrigation management at the farm level. Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) developed the Drip Planner Chart (DPC) to provide smallholder farmers with a simple tool to schedule drip irrigation to the crops’ needs. DPC is a manual disk calculator to calculate daily irrigation requirement. Farmers’ feedback was the basis for developing the DPC. Using DPC over a three-year period in Spain resulted in a 14 % water saving and improved irrigation timing. Trials at smallholder farmer fields in Nepal and Zambia showed DPC advice is more adapted to the changing demands of the crop over the different growth stages and responds to the farmer’s quest for practical drip scheduling advice. This paper presents the Drip Planner Chart and the scientific validation of the accuracy of the DPC. Experiments on farmers’ fields show water saving in Nepal and improved yield in Zambia. In both countries an improved scheduling over the growing seasons was found using DPC.

In various avatars the images of pre-modern knowledge and social organisations, also differently described as pre-colonial or traditional, are projected as alternative to the modern technologies and forms of governance not only in India but also elsewhere. I first review a few such representations of the idea of pre-modern invoked from politically diverse positions in order to demonstrate a unifying characteristic among them that form a 'view from the above'. I show how a situated position – seeing like a subaltern – can provide a way forward from the mutually opposing binary categorizations of the pre-modern and modern. Extensively referring to folk literature, I discuss here the historical ethnography of tank irrigation technology in Karnataka that covers both medieval and modern periods. I show how the technical designs of this thousand years old technology significantly transformed from the pre-modern to the modern times and how in each epoch the reproduction of the technology implied the reproduction of radically different social and cultural spaces and, most significantly, social and power relations

Direct groundwater regulation (e.g. registration of abstraction points, permits and concessions) has been much advocated world-wide; however, few successful cases have been reported. The development of groundwater use in Minqin County, Gansu Province, China, is described, with analyses of the situation before and after the implementation of direct groundwater regulation measures in 2007. Based on a survey carried out in 2010, it is argued that the regulation measures, which were part of a broader water-policy reform, were successfully implemented due to their integration with pre-existing collective groundwater institutions. In addition to the regulation measures—the closure of wells and per capita water use restriction—all villages had to form water users’ associations (WUAs) which were assigned to implement the new regulations. These WUAs were found to have the same structure as the existing collective groundwater institutions. Through the water-policy reform, the function of the pre-existing groundwater institutions was transformed from managing “water exploitation” to managing “water conservation”.

Recent large-scale land acquisitions for agricultural production (including biofuels), popularly known as 'land grabbing', have attracted headline attention. Water as both a target and driver of this phenomenon has been largely ignored despite the interconnectedness of water and land. This special issue aims to fill this gap and to widen and deepen the lens beyond the confines of the literature’s still limited focus on agriculture-driven resource grabbing. The articles in this collection demonstrate that the fluid nature of water and its hydrologic complexity often obscure how water grabbing takes place and what the associated impacts on the environment and diverse social groups are. The fluid properties of water interact with the 'slippery' nature of the grabbing processes: unequal power relations; fuzziness between legality and illegality and formal and informal rights; unclear administrative boundaries and jurisdictions, and fragmented negotiation processes. All these factors combined with the powerful material, discursive and symbolic characteristics of water make 'water grabbing' a site for conflict with potential drastic impacts on the current and future uses and benefits of water, rights as well as changes in tenure relations

This paper presents empirical material of the role of canal operators, canaleros, in one irrigation scheme in Mexico over a period of two decades. The open canal infrastructures are fitted with manually operated adjustable gates and intakes. During the period of observation, both management set-up and the canal infrastructure changed. The case of the canalero shows how low-ranked field personnel play an important role in scheduling and implementing water distribution. The canalero emerges as a key actor who makes the system work. Canaleros have created their own semi-autonomous field of action; an area of competence from which they derive a certain degree of authority. The case study findings are compared with relevant published sources complemented with electronic interviews with experts. In large- and medium-scale open canal irrigation systems with flexible and manually operated irrigation devices, positions similar to those of the canalero exist. Canal operators seem to play similar key roles yet no systematic review or comparative analysis of their position exists. This paper makes a first contribution to explain why such field level staff can perform such significant roles and continue to do so.

Demand-based irrigation systems are operated according to crop water requirements. As crop water requirements remain variable throughout the growing season, the discharges in the canal also vary to meet demands. The irrigation system under study is a demand-based semi-automatic irrigation system, where flows in the main canal are automatically controlled and secondary canals manually operated. The main canal headworks have been equipped with the SCADA system with proportional integral (PI) discharge controllers and the canal itself has been provided with self-regulating AVIS/AVIO downstream control gates for flow regulation in the canal. The secondary canals have manually operated sliding gates, which are opened or closed as per crop water requirements of the command area following a crop-based irrigations operation (CBIO) schedule under which they remain closed for one week after one or several weeks open, depending upon water needs. The flow in the main canal is then automatically adjusted according to the number of open or closed secondary offtakes. These operations result in fluctuating flows in the main canal and if not properly planned can cause serious implications for canal safety and its hydrodynamic performance. The PI discharge controllers regulate discharge releases to the canal in order to satisfy demands. The proper selection of PI coefficients ensures system safety and efficient water delivery. The operation of the secondary canals also plays a key role in defining the performance of the automatic operations. The planned opening and closure of a cluster of offtakes ensures safety of the self-regulating structures and stability of the flows in the main canal. In this paper various options have been tested using hydrodynamic modelling and we found some optimal values of PI coefficients and defined some rules for secondary canal operations to enhance the operational performance and sustainability of downstream-controlled irrigation canals.

Media stories often speak of a future dominated by large-scale water wars. Rather less attention has been paid to the way water conflicts already play out at local levels and form part of people’s everyday lives. Based on case study studies from Vietnam, Bolivia and Zambia, this paper examines the strategies of poor households in local water conflicts. It is shown how such households may not only engage actively in collaborative water management but may also apply risk aversion strategies when faced with powerful adversaries in conflict situations. It is further shown how dependency relations between poor and wealthy households can reduce the scope of action for the poor in water conflicts. As a result, poor households can be forced to abstain from defending their water resources in order to maintain socio-economic and political ties with the very same households that oppose them in water conflicts. The paper concludes by briefly discussing how the poorest can be supported in local water conflicts. This includes ensuring that alternative spaces for expressing grievances exist and are accessible; facilitating that water sharing agreements and rights are clearly stipulated and monitored; and working beyond water governance to reduce the socio-economic dependency-relations of poor households

Naturalization and universal application of concepts such as ‘efficiency’ and ‘productivity’ by policy makers and water experts in the water sector leads water managers and water users to internalize these norms. As we show in this exploratory paper, the effects could be threefold: first, evidence suggests that ‘efficiency’ discourses may justify policies and projects that deprive smallholders of water use rights; second, expert-driven water policy and project notions of efficiency tend to interfere with existing local water management practices and may harm livelihood and production strategies, and third, water users may come to blame themselves for underachieving according to the norms that are established in the dominant power-knowledge structures. This article deals with three mutually connected water policy arenas where maximization of water productivity and efficiency is fiercely promoted: technical water use efficiency (the engineer's realm), allocation efficiency (the economist's realm) at national levels, and the arena of international trade, where allocation efficiency is sought through virtual water flows embedded in agricultural commodities trade.

As part of their irrigation strategy, the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Malawi are actively promoting the use of treadle pumps in smallholder irrigation. The positive impact of treadle pumps on food security and poverty reduction in Malawi and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa is well documented. However, few studies have analysed the adoption dynamics and dissemination approaches of treadle pumps. This study uses a logit model to analyse the factors influencing treadle pump adoption among a stratified random sample of 100 adopters and 100 non-adopters in two districts in Malawi. The results indicate that relatively well-off farmers have a significantly higher probability of adopting the treadle pumps than poor farmers. This raises questions about dissemination approaches and targeting, because treadle pumps are typically geared towards poor smallholders. The study further indicates differences between male and female adopters. Female adopters are more likely to pay for subsidized treadle pumps in cash. Male adopters mostly acquire their pumps through a loan. Women tend to spend the additional income on food for the household while men tend to spend it mostly on non-food items. It is therefore likely that treadle pump adoption by women will positively impact on household food security, though it also adds to women's workload.

The recent increase in smallholder irrigation schemes in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia has been associated with the overexploitation of water resources, while the economic viability of these schemes has been questioned. This paper assesses water use efficiencies of the Haleku Irrigation Scheme and quantifies improvement scenarios. The viability of these scenarios is discussed, taking into account the socio-economic performance of the Haleku Irrigation Scheme and the nearby Dodicha Irrigation Scheme – that feature similar settings but contrasting socio-economic performance. The irrigation efficiency of Haleku is 35%, but conveyance losses and application efficiencies vary widely across the scheme. Scenario results indicate scope for improvement and reduced water abstraction. Yields and economic returns of irrigated crops were higher in Haleku than in Dodicha, but yields are still lower than attainable yields. Any strategy to increase irrigation efficiency will have to include a programme to improve crop productivity and economic returns. Considering the over-abstraction of water resources, the poor irrigation performance of Haleku and the disappointing socio-economic performance of both Haleku and Dodicha suggest that policy should focus on improving existing schemes in the Central Rift Valley instead of further developing new ones. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. L'augmentation récente des périmètres irrigués à petite échelle dans la vallée centrale du Rift, en Éthiopie a été associée à la surexploitation des ressources en eau, tandis que la viabilité économique de ces emménagements a été mise en doute. Cette étude évalue l'efficacité de l'utilisation d'eau du système irrigué de Haleku et quantifie les scénarios d'amélioration. La viabilité de ces scénarios est discutée en tenant compte des performances socio-économiques de l'aménagement de Haleku et de celles du système irrigué de Dodicha. Les deux sont géographiquement proches, présentent des caractéristiques physiques similaires, mais diffèrent par les performances socio-économiques. L'efficacité de l'irrigation de Haleku est de 35%, mais les pertes de transport et efficacité de l'application varient considérablement au sein du périmètre. Les scénarios appliqués indiquent des possibilités d'amélioration et de réduction des prélèvements d'eau. Les rendements et la rentabilité économique des cultures irriguées sont plus élevés à Haleku qu'à Dodicha, mais les rendements sont toujours inférieurs aux rendements réalisables. Toute stratégie visant à accroître l'efficacité d'irrigation devra inclure un programme de l'amélioration de la productivité des cultures et la rentabilité économique. Compte tenu de la surexploitation des ressources en eau, la performance médiocre de l'irrigation à Haleku et la performance décevante socio-économique des deux emménagements Haleku et Dodicha, il est suggéré que la politique devrait se concentrer sur l'amélioration des systèmes existant dans la vallée centrale du Rift au lieu de continuer à développer de nouveaux.

Collective groundwater management by water users—self-regulation—is increasingly advocated as a complement to state regulation. This article analyzes the attempts by the Guanajuato State Water Commission (CEAG) in central Mexico to promote user self-regulation through the establishment and development of 14 Consejos Tecnicos de Aguas (COTAS; Technical Water Councils). Based on a joint assessment by a former senior CEAG policy-maker and two researchers, Guanajuato’s groundwater-management policy is reviewed to understand why user self-regulation was less successful than expected. It concludes that increasing awareness and improving the knowledge base on groundwater is not enough to trigger self-regulation by groundwater users. A wider delegation of responsibilities to the COTAS is necessary, combined with: (1) functioning mechanisms for enforcing groundwater legislation, especially concerning well permits and pumped volumes, and (2) mechanisms that ensure the legitimacy and accountability of users’ representatives to both users and state agencies.

Low crop productivity, food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition; inadequate farming knowledge and skills, implements and inputs are characteristic of smallholder agriculture in Southern Africa. Many researchers argue that conservation agriculture can guarantee higher crop productivity, food security, improved livelihoods and environmental protection, better than the unsustainable traditional systems of slash and burn practices. In this paper, we present the results of a meta-analysis of over 40 academic publications to review conservation agriculture’s role in influencing desired livelihood outcomes in Southern Africa. We conclude that the effectiveness of conservation agriculture towards better livelihood outcomes in Southern Africa remains debatable, especially when supportive government policies are lacking.

This paper describes how political and economic transition has affected the system of agricultural production in Khorezm, Uzbekistan in terms of economic practices and relationships. Based on recent fieldwork, the paper argues that the local agricultural economy is a hybrid economy, where production for market, quasi-market and subsistence merge into and co-constitute one another. In order to keep the system going, and to make up for the uncertainties in the formal context of production, the relation between new private fermer and the peasant (dehkan) households is of particular importance. This relation resembles neo-patrimonial patron–client relations, which are both personal and informal while also being based on formal, contractual relations. The relations are asymmetric and based on the limited and unevenly distributed resources. The division of power is unequal but not fixed, due to the ongoing transition of the economic system.

Recent analyses indicate a historic loss of equity in the shift in India’s drinking water policy from a welfarebased, free supply mode to a market-oriented demandled approach. However, a complex entwining of caste and gender has consistently defined water allocation and access among users and entrenched fractures in the structure and culture of the policy-implementing and regulatory institutions. Contrary to popular assumptions, both official welfare-based supply and recent neo-liberal policies and interventions hinge on a tokenistic, segregated and apolitical mention of gender and/or caste concerns which, when translated into action, have often reinforced existing inequities. Based on the above observations, this paper argues that subsequent changes in domestic water policies have only served to exacerbate an enduring unequal social order around water in India

Severe flooding of the flat downstream area of the Chi River Basin occurs frequently. This flooding is causing catastrophic loss of human lives, damage and economic loss. Effective flood management requires a broad and practical approach. Although flood disasters cannot completely be prevented, major part of potential loss of lives and damages can be reduced by comprehensive mitigation measures. In this paper, the effects of river normalisation, reservoir operation, green river (bypass), and retention have been analysed by using integrated hydrologic and hydraulic modelling. Every tributary has been simulated by a process-based hydrological model (SWAT) coupled with the 1D/2D SOBEK river routing model. Model simulation results under the design rainfall event, i.e. flood depth, flood extent, and damages for the situation with and without flood mitigation measures have been compared and evaluated to determine an optimal set of mitigation measures. The results reveal that a combination of river normalisation, reservoir operation, and green river (bypass) is most effective as it can decrease the extent of the 100-year flood event by approximately 24% and 31% for the economic damage. The results of this study will be useful for improving the present flood defence practice in the Chi River Basin

In this paper, the role of subsurface drainage in irrigated agriculture in semi-arid and arid regions is discussed based on experiences obtained in Egypt, India and Pakistan. Agriculture in these countries is predominantly practiced by small, marginal farmers with landholdings of often less than one hectare. In general, they do not have the means to pay for the investments in irrigation and drainage themselves. Consequently, most irrigation and drainage projects are funded by the (local) governments. Shallow horizontal pipe drainage systems have proved to be a technically feasible and cost-effective tool to combat the twin problem of waterlogging and salinity. Their large scale implementation is, however, hampered by a number of institutional and socio-economic reasons. The paper discusses why subsurface drainage is needed to safeguard investments in irrigated agriculture and to conserve land resources, as well as what the challenges are to make subsurface drainage work

Urban wastewater is increasingly used for agricultural production, particularly in those areas where access to fresh water resources is limiting. Depending on the prevailing institutional arrangements, this agricultural use is planned or unplanned. If planned, a general policy is to minimise health risks and environmental pollution, leading to an often centralised collection of the city’s sewage, followed by primary, secondary and further treatment until the prevalent discharge effluent use standards are met. If society can afford them, advanced treatment technologies are installed, backed by a well functioning institutional infrastructure. In contrast, in less prosperous countries the agricultural use of wastewater is driven by the high needs for water and the absence of affordable fresh water resources along with insufficient financial means to construct treatment systems and distribution networks that comply with the official regulations. Combined with a poor institutional framework, this results in unplanned and unguided direct or indirect use of raw, partially treated or diluted wastewater. In an effort to mitigate health and environmental problems, we propose using a reverse water chain design approach, in which the ultimate fate of the water is the basis for the design of conveyance and treatment facilities.

Although farmers are often seen as wasting water and getting a disproportionate share of water. irrigation is losing out in the competition for water with other sectors. In cases of drought. water restrictions are overwhelmingly imposed on irrigation while other activities and domestic supply are only affected in cases of very severe shortage All over the world, farmers have been responding to the challenge posed by both short- and long-term declining water allocations in many creative ways, but these responses have often been overlooked by policy makers. This paper examines how farmers have adapted to water scarcity in six different river basins of Asia and the Middle East. It inventories the different types of adjustments observed and shows not only their effectiveness in offsetting the drop in supply but also their costs to farmers and to the environment and their contribution to basin closure. The conclusion calls for a better recognition of the efforts made by the irrigation sector to respond to water challenges and of its implications in terms of reduced scope for efficiency gains in the Irrigation sector.

Quantitative estimates of the hydrologic effects of climate change are essential for understanding and solving potential transboundary water conflicts in the Zerafshan river basin, Central Asia.This paper introduces an identification of runoff generation processes and a detection of changes in hydrological regimes supporting Mann–Kendall trend analysis for streamflows.By this, the effective available and future water resources are identified for the Zerafshan.The results for the subbasins in the upper Zerafshan and for the reference station at the upper catchment outlet indicate that glacier melt is the most significant component of river runoff. The Mann–Kendall trend analysis confirms the regime analysis with the shift in the seasonality of the discharge. Furthermore, the results of the Kendall–Theil Robust Line for predicted long-term discharge trends show a decreasing annual discharge.The experience gained during this study emphasizes the fact that the summer flood, urgently required for the large irrigation projects downstream in Uzbekistan, is reduced and more water will be available in spring. Additionally, following the estimation of future discharges in 50 and 100 years the hydrological changes are affecting the seasonal water availability for irrigation. This analysis highlighted that water availability is decreasing and the timing of availability is changing. Hence, there will be more competition between upstream Tajikistan and downstream Uzbekistan. Planned projects within the basin might have to be reconsidered and the changed scenario of water availability needs to be properly taken into account for long-term basin scale water management.

This paper verifies whether the water resources of the transboundary Limpopo River Basin are sufficient for the planned massive irrigation developments in the Mozambique part of this basin, namely 73,000 ha, in addition to existing irrigation (estimated at 9400 ha), and natural growth of common use irrigation (4000 ha). This development includes the expansion of sugar cane production for the production of ethanol as a biofuel. Total additional water requirements may amount to 1.3 × 10 9 m 3 /a or more. A simple river basin simulation model was constructed in order to assess different irrigation development scenarios, and at two storage capacities of the existing Massingir dam. Many uncertainties surround current and future water availability in the Lower Limpopo River Basin. Discharge measurements are incomplete and sometimes inconsistent, while upstream developments during the last 25 years have been dramatic and future trends are unknown. In Mozambique it is not precisely known how much water is currently consumed, especially by the many small-scale users of surface and shallow alluvial groundwater. Future impacts of climate change increase existing uncertainties. Model simulations indicate that the Limpopo River does not carry sufficient water for all planned irrigation. A maximum of approx. 58,000 ha of irrigated agriculture can be sustained in the Mozambican part of the basin. This figure assumes that Massingir will be operated at increased reservoir capacity, and implies that only about 44,000 ha of new irrigation can be developed, which is 60% of the envisaged developments. Any additional water use would certainly impact downstream users and thus create tensions. Some time will elapse before 44,000 ha of new irrigated land will have been developed. This time could be used to improve monitoring networks to decrease current uncertainties. Meanwhile the four riparian Limpopo States are preparing a joint river basin study. In this study a methodology could be developed to estimate and safeguard water availability for those users who under the law do not need registration – but who do need water.

Drainage-weighing lysimeters allowed monitoring of water balance components of non-bearing olive (Olea europaea cv Barnea) trees over a 3-month period including short-term events of controlled but severe water stress. The objective of the study was to evaluate a variety of soil and plant-based water status and drought stress monitoring methods on the basis of tree-scale evapotranspiration (ET). As the trees entered into and recovered from water stress, meteorological data, actual ET (ETa), soil water content and changes in leaf turgor pressure were continuously monitored. Additionally, midday measurements of stem water potential, stomatal conductance, canopy temperature, and quantum yield of PSII photochemistry were conducted. Diurnal (dawn to dusk) measurements of all the above were made hourly on days of maximum stress. Shoot elongation rate was measured for periods of stress and recovery. Quantum yield of PSII photochemistry, stomatal conductance, and stem water potential all successfully indicated reductions in whole-tree water consumption beginning at moderate stress levels. These measured parameters fully recovered to the levels of non-stressed trees soon after water application was renewed. Shoot elongation was reduced 25–30% for the 10-day period during and following drought and recovered thereafter to levels of non-stressed trees. Whole-tree ETa was reduced by as much as 20% even following full recovery of the leaf level parameters, suggesting reduced canopy size and growth due to the stress period. Non-destructive, continuous (turgor pressure) and remotely sensed (canopy temperature) methods showed promising potential for monitoring effects of water stress, in spite of technological and data interpretation challenges requiring further attention.

In this article the suggested permit and licence systems included in the draft Afghan Water Law of 2008 (superseding those laws of 1981 and 1991) are examined by comparing them with main canal data from two pilot studies within the Kunduz Basin. The comparison highlights the difficulty of making these proposed legal frameworks operative. Overall, it appears that the sections within the law on permits and licences are not implementable within or even useful for the traditional irrigation systems, but mainly play into the hands of the national hydrocracy and please international donors

In the coming 25-30 years global food production will have to be doubled in order to maintain food security at the global level. With respect to this to a certain extent the advantage is that food prices have increased over the past seven to eight years, and especially during the past two years. This may put farmers who are able to sell at least a certain part of their harvest in a better position, provided that the increase in production costs is at a lower level. On the other hand it puts the poor people in the cities of the emerging and least developed countries in an increasingly complicated situation as it will require more of them to remain able to purchase their food. In this paper we give a summarised overview of the role of water management for global food production and poverty alleviation. It turns out that to maintain food security in the near and medium-term future a substantially larger increase in production will be required than continuation of the present trend. While this is quite an effort, one may expect that at least for the near future the costs will remain at the present high level and that they may even increase further

In Mexico, the hydraulic mission, the centralisation of water control, and the growth of the federal hydraulic bureaucracy (hydrocracy) recursively shaped and reinforced each other during the 20th century. The hydraulic mission entails that the state, embodied in an autonomous hydrocracy, takes the lead in water resources development to capture as much water as possible for human uses. The hydraulic mission was central to the formation of Mexico’s hydrocracy, which highly prized its autonomy. Bureaucratic rivals, political transitions, and economic developments recurrently challenged the hydrocracy’s degree of autonomy. However, driven by the argument that a single water authority should regulate and control the nation’s waters, the hydrocracy consistently managed to renew its, always precarious, autonomy at different political moments in the country’s history. The legacy of the hydraulic mission continues to inform water reforms in Mexico, and largely explains the strong resilience of the Mexican hydrocracy to "deep" institutional change and political transitions. While the emphasis on infrastructure construction has lessened, the hydrocracy has actively renewed its control over water decisions and budgets and has played a remarkably constant, hegemonic role in defining and shaping Mexico’s water laws, policies and institutions.

During the time of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian states managed their water resources on the meso level according to administrative rather than hydrological boundaries. It was only in 2003 that Uzbekistan shifted from administrative to hydrological boundaries for water management. Using the example of Khorezm Province in the lower Amu Darya basin, this paper shows that redefining boundaries is a political process, which led in Khorezm to new boundaries which are partly determined by hydraulic, not hydrological, and political considerations. Nevertheless, the new management approach has created more equity amongst the different districts in terms of water supply per irrigated area. However, simple equity in water supply did not take into consideration other issues, such as infrastructure, hydrogeological zones and crop production. In addition, the official data show that the achieved equity was based on an overall increase in water supply to the individual districts and to Khorezm as a whole. When only the increase in water supply to the individual districts is taken into consideration, it appears that the location of the main office and the regional provenance of the main staff influenced water supply to specific districts. Finally, based on the data presented for Khorezm Province the paper goes a stage further and questions the real value of the new water management boundaries implemented in Khorezm.

Anchored in 19th century scientism and an ideology of the domination of nature, inspired by colonial hydraulic feats, and fuelled by technological improvements in high dam constructions and power generation and transmission, large-scale water resources development has been a defining feature of the 20th century. Whether out of a need to increase food production, raise rural incomes, or strengthen state building and the legitimacy of the state, governments – North and South, East and West – embraced the 'hydraulic mission' and entrusted it to powerful state water bureaucracies (hydrocracies). Engaged in the pursuit of iconic and symbolic projects, the massive damming of river systems, and the expansion of large-scale public irrigation these hydrocracies have long remained out of reach. While they have enormously contributed to actual welfare, including energy and food generation, flood protection and water supply to urban areas, infrastructural development has often become an end in itself, rather than a means to an end, fuelling rent-seeking and symbolising state power. In many places projects have been challenged on the basis of their economic, social or environmental impacts. Water bureaucracies have been challenged internally (within the state bureaucracies or through political changes) and externally (by critiques from civil society and academia, or by reduced funding). They have endeavoured to respond to these challenges by reinventing themselves or deflecting reforms. This paper analyses these transformations, from the emergence of the hydraulic mission and associated water bureaucracies to their adjustment and responses to changing conditions.

This article explores the impact of the existing property rights regime over land and water on the sustainable and equitable management and use of these resources, in the context of changing irrigation practices in a paddy-growing area in the south-eastern part of the Palakkad district in Kerala, India. Since land rights determine rights to water in the area, the article discusses the changing rights regime over land, primarily after the implementation of land reforms in 1970. It shows how the implementation of land reforms and nationalization of private forests have paid little attention to the ecological context in which redistribution was taking place. As a result, while an agricultural-cum- forested landscape was divided into privately owned and government owned parcels, the ecological relationships between these different land use categories were ignored. In the same vein, land and water were treated as separate entities, with redistribution of land rights overlooking the distribution of water rights. The compartmentalized view of resources coupled with the consolidation of the private property regime has resulted in a situation where landowners exploit the resource without any consideration for its ecological characteristics and inter-resource linkages. The failure to view land and water in integration has precipitated inequitable access and unsustainable use of water. In addition, the availability of external water supplies and the introduction of energised pumping facilitate the enclosure of water within privately owned land parcels. The article concludes that a re-envisioning of rights to resources within the concerned ecological context is necessary if sustainable and equitable resource use and management are to be achieved

Water rights and property relations have become pivotal issues in water debates, reforms and intervention programs. Governments, development agencies and expert centers tend to consider 'water rights' as merely standard black boxes that juxtapose the frameworks of positivist technical and economist water science. But far beyond universal manuals and irrigation regulations, there is another water world, entrenched in the everyday lives of real people, male and female water users. The paper makes clear how Andean user collectives practice an enormous variety of water rights and management forms, as local-national-international hybrids that are created and affirmed in local water territories, embedded in historical and cultural-political contexts.

This article examines how the legal systems of Andean countries have dealt with the region's huge plurality of local water rights, and how official policies to 'recognize' local rights and identities harbour increasingly subtle politics of codification, confinement and disciplining. The autonomy and diversity of local water rights are a major hindrance for water companies, elites and formal rule-enforcers, since State and market institutions require a predictable, uniform playing field. Complex local rights orders are seen as irrational, ill-defined and disordered. Officialdom cannot simply ignore or oppress the 'unruliness and disobedience' of local rights systems: rather it 'incorporates' local normative orders that have the capacity to adequately respond to context-based needs. This article examines a number of evolving, overlapping legal domination strategies, such as the 'marrying' of local and official legal systems in ways that do not challenge the legal and power hierarchy; and reviews the ways in which official regulation and legal strategies deny or take into consideration local water rights repertoires, and the politics of recognition that these entail. Post-colonial recognition policies are not simply responses to demands by subjugated groups for greater autonomy. Rather, they facilitate the water bureaucracy's political control and help neoliberal sectors to incorporate local water users' rights and organizations into the market system ¿ even though many communities refuse to accept these policies of recognition and politics of containment

The current neo-liberal moment in water policy appears to offer possibilities for realizing feminist ambitions. Several feminist scholars see the individualization and privatization of resource rights as offering possibilities for confronting gender inequalities rooted in, and reproduced by, historic and structural male favoured access to productive resources such as land and water. But we seriously doubt a progressive feminist potential of neo-liberal reforms in the water sector. We focus on water used for agricultural purposes, because neo-liberal water proposals are premised on taking water out of agriculture to uses with higher marginal economic returns. A first set of doubts involves water as a specific resource, largely because of its propensity to flow. Rights to water are less fixed and more prone to be contested at various levels and in different socio-legal domains than rights to other natural resources. The second set stems from our disagreement with the ideological underpinnings of the neo-liberal project. It reflects our concern about how water reforms articulate with wider political-economic structures and historical dynamics characterized by new ways of capitalist expansion. Furthermore, mainstream neo-liberal water policy language and concepts tend to hide precisely those issues that, from a critical feminist perspective, need to be questioned. Feminist reflections about tenure insecurity and social inequities in relation to water clash with the terms of a neo-liberal framework that invisibilizes, naturalizes and objectifies the politics and powers involved in water re-allocation. A feminist response calls for challenging the individualization, marketization and consumer/client focus of the neo-liberal paradigm.

In Mittelasien sind Mensch, Natur und Wirtschaft auf das Wasser zweier Flusssysteme angewiesen: des Syr Darja im Norden und des Amu Darja im Süden. Beide Ströme sind in hohem Maße zur Stromgewinnung und landwirtschaftlichen Bewässerung erschlossen. Die Nutzung des Wassers birgt erhebliches Potential sowohl für Konflikte als auch für Kooperationen zwischen den einzelnen Anrainerstaaten: Am Oberlauf wollen sie die Wasserkraft zur Stromerzeugung nutzen, am Unterlauf sehen sie die Bewässerung ihrer Felder in Gefahr