The legal and administrative setting for the use of water resources in Mendoza, Argentina

The legal-administrative setting for the use of waterresources in Mendoza Province is founded on differentlegal rules. This includes the National Constitution,the Argentine Civil Code, National Laws, theConstitution of the Provincial State, the GeneralWater Law, (legal) administrative regulations of theGeneral Department of Irrigation.The current water law is based on the roman law, onthe Arab irrigation water rights which were brought toArgentina by the Spaniards and on the practices of theoriginal American pre-Colombian intermediate law.The latter is marked by a strong regional sense. Assuch, the water law is strongly influenced by theregions elements of nature and attempts to offersolutions to problems.The legal rules are discussed from a behavioral andorganizational perspective. Examples from the LowerTunuyan System are given to illustrate the day-to-dayeffects on irrigation water management.     

Irrigation management institutions in transition: a look back, a look forward

The paper explores current dissatisfaction withpast irrigation improvement approaches and examines reasonssuch dissatisfaction is so widespread. It reviews past andcurrent efforts to improve irrigation management in developingcountries and deduces themes with implications for the future. Finally it builds on these themes to speculate on directions inwhich both public irrigation agencies and local levelmanagement institutions will evolve in the future.     

Social power,water control and irrigation systems

The principal finding of the study is that social power positions held by Egyptian farmers sharings a common watercourse do not have significant influence in the farmer's ability to control irrigation water distribution. Other variables used to describe irrigation management; location on the water course and farmers' use of more than one source of water to irrigate; also do not yield any explanations as to why particular farmers have more control over their irrigation than others. Farmers who have more control are less likely to be affected by other farmers' actions, physical problems on delivery canals, breakdown in pumps, and government officials actions. While differences in irrigation control among farmers exist, no single cause is identified. Two explanations for the findings are (1) water control is sufficient for a large percentage of Egyptian farmers, and (2) adequately explaining irrigation behavior cannot be done with separate variables.Deceased     

Irrigation and Drainage Systems Maintenance: Needs for Research and Action

Irrigation system maintenance hastraditionally played second chair to systemoperations. This relative neglect hassquandered economic benefits and depletedthe value of capital assets. Recentprograms transferring operation andmaintenance responsibility to water usergroups offer an opportunity to redress thisbalance and create a more systematic andsustainable program of system maintenancein transferred systems. This paperidentifies important research needs thatform the basis for an action researchintervention program. The need to linkmaintenance inputs to hydraulic performance isclearly important, as is the need toprioritize inputs in terms of both cost andexpected impact on performance. Thefunding of maintenance is closely linked toasset management so that water user groupscan develop long-term strategies forprioritizing and financing theiractivities. Factors that lead water usergroups to choose between a self-helpstrategy towards O&M and the hiring ofprofessional staff to undertake these tasksalso requires additional research andinvestigation. Finally, the relationshipbetween regular maintenance and frequentrehabilitation needs to be defined and thetwo linked through policy, agreements, andfunding arrangements.     

Can Farmers in Egypt Shoulder the Burden of Irrigation Management?

The Government of Egypt is mandated toplan, construct, operate, manage, andmaintain the water system. However, withthe growing water demands over supplies inthe country, water management became a verydifficult task. This has led Egypt toreform policies, technologies,institutions, and development strategies tomanage water more effectively. One of thesestrategies is the irrigation managementtransfer (IMT) that has been a majorstrategy adopted to encourage farmers toplay a more important role in irrigationmanagement and related water services andalso share the cost of O&M of irrigationand drainage systems. IMT policy islaunched in Egypt as a pilot phase toexpand water users' participation atsecondary levels of the irrigation anddrainage systems. Four pilot areas (5,000–8,000 acre) representing all categories andgeographical locations of agriculturallands of Egypt were selected to implementthis policy.This study was conducted in these pilotareas prior to the start of any IMTactivities to describe, analyze, andexplain farmers' attitudes towardirrigation maintenance and implementationof IMT process. Socio-economicquestionnaires were designed and used asthe main tool for data collection. Afterthe field pre-test of the surveyinstrument, a sample of 240 farmers, 60from each pilot area, was selected usingthe sampling frame of multi-tiered process,and the statistical data analysis was doneusing SpssWin software.The major result of this study is that,without proper education and interface withfarmers, there is widespread resistance tothe idea farmers assuming management andmaintenance responsibilities beyond theon-farm level. It would have to proceedvery cautiously, and yield responsiveresults if it were to survive in the faceof the attitudes the farmers have shown,with their strong belief in the necessityof the role of the government. Meanwhile,farmers expressed great confidence in theIMT process and its objectives.     

Optimal Maintenance in Irrigation

This article asks and addresses thequestion ``what is `optimal' maintenance inirrigation.' It examines alternativedefinitions of irrigation maintenance andexplores pathways of system deteriorationunder alternative input levels. It thendefines maintenance as a service, where thefunctions of arranging, providing, payingfor, and using the service are considered,and discusses the arrangements andrelationships necessary to provide thisservice. Key to this approach is theconcept of maintaining a specified level ofservice – a concept drawn from the assetmanagement approach to systems maintenance. A contingency matrix is developed whichdefines basic maintenance strategies underdifferent levels of cost and risk. Thepaper concludes that optimality ofirrigation system maintenance is somethingwhich cannot be defined on technicalgrounds, or economic ones, or even oninstitutional grounds alone. Rather it mustbe defined as a process operating within aset of framework conditions and technical,economic and institutional constraints.     

The quality of service provided by the irrigation department to the users associations, Tunuyan System, Mendoza, Argentina

The quality of service provided by the provincial Irrigation Department (DGI) to the Water Users Associations (UA), and subsequently by the UA's to the related water users, is based on the provincial water law. The intended volume of water being delivered per considered period further depends on the water availability and on the (crop irrigation) water requirements. The Service Level (SL) compares the intended water supply with the water supply that would be required to supply the entire irrigable area with sufficient water. As soon as the intended water delivery pattern is set, the measured actual delivery can be assessed against the intention. Several performance indicators are used in this context. Based on the assessment of the Water Delivery Performance Ratio and the Overall Consumed Ratio recommendations are made on changes which can be made to improve water use and reduce problems of waterlogging.     

Maintenance Management Process

A case study from Maharashtra comparing maintenance performance between two transferred minor canals on the one hand and two non-transferred minor canals on the other is presented. It is shown that the clear differences in maintenance performance are due not to differences in resources expended, but to differences in maintenance management processes. This study demonstrates that small differences in management process can lead to major differences in maintenance performance under severe resource constraints.     

Prospects of micro-irrigation in India

The demand for land and water in India is continuously escalating due to increased population. The land can be used intensively on even up to 3 crops in a year for which water is needed. Therefore water management and increased production are very essential and crucial for the development.Research studies conducted in India by various institutions have indicated that water saving is about 40–80% and the yield increase is up to 100% for different crops by using micro-irrigation. The incremental benefit-drip cost ratio (B_I/C_D) worked out for various crops ranges from 1.35 to 13.35 excluding water saving and 2.78 to 32.32 including water saving. It has also been proved that drip irrigation, which is a type of micro-irrigation, is technically feasible and socially acceptable not only for large farms but also in small and marginal farms.Drip irrigation can be adopted to large areas irrigated from wells especially for wide spaced high value crops. This method is also suitable for hilly and undulated tracts, coastal sand terrains, and to a great extent in the water scarce areas of South and Western India. About 18 million ha are under fruit, vegetables and plantation crops and the present area under drip is only about 55,000 ha. Therefore the potential and prospects of drip irrigation is very high in the coming years.     

Innovations in irrigation management and development in Hunan province

Mass movement labor was an important contributor to irrigation system construction in China during the seventies, making up a third or more of system costs. Total per-ha system costs are roughly consistent with those in other Asian countries when contributed labor is valued at estimated farm wage rates, but less than average if zero labor opportunity cost is assumed.Innovative practices are being employed in managing and supporting irrigation system operations in Western Hunan Province. Many are ones which have been advocated repeatedly elsewhere but infrequently applied. These include the volumetric wholesaling of water to distribution organizations, farmer water charges with both fixed and volumetric components, financially autonomous irrigation management agencies, and delegation of water distribution and fee-collection responsibility to village-based organizations. Heavy emphasis currently rests on financial self-reliance of schemes as denoted by the slogan, let water support water. This has led to a proliferation of secondary income-generating enterprises associated with irrigation system management, as well as strenuous efforts to collect irrigation fees. Often the secondary enterprises generate a larger share of total income than does the irrigation service itself.Fee levels for rice generally fall into the $12 to $20 ha/yr range, intermediate to those prevailing in Pakistan at $8.50/ha for two crops of rice and the Philippines at $45/ha for double cropped rice. Collection of fees is typically handled by the village. Charges are usually levied on an area basis but one large system employed a more complicated system which had both fixed and variable components. Water allocation at lower system levels is also delegated to the village in many cases, with the state serving as a wholesale provider of water.Abbreviations and units ha-m hectare-meter - jin unit of weight equal to 0.5 kg - kw kilowatt - mu unit of land area equal to 1/15 ha - Rmb Renmimbi (Yuan) equal to US$ 0.27 officially in September 1988 and about half of that unofficially - RMD Reservoir Management Division - WCB Water Conservancy Bureau - WMD Water Management Department     

人民胜利渠灌溉用水管理损失及对策研究

根据人民渠灌区用水管理损失现状，对河南省人民胜利灌溉枢的灌溉用水管理损失情况进行了系统的调查研究，认为影响灌区用水管理损失的因素有：管理体制与运营机制；水费、水价政策；农耕技术与种植结构等。提出应从输配水、田间灌水等方面，减少灌溉用水管理损失。     

灌溉型水利经营发展战略的基点

灌溉型的水利行业,在长期的计划经济体制下,一直是作为社会公益事业的性质来定位的,不受价值规律和供求关系的制约。探讨了市场经济条件下灌溉型水利的性质定位,分析了灌溉水的属性,灌溉供水市场的特征,以及灌溉型水利发展模式的基点。     

Development and Application of Simplified Asset Management Procedures for Transferred Irrigation Systems

This paper describes the practice of assetmanagement and its application toirrigation system maintenance. It thenpresents the application of a simplifiedasset management procedure for transferredirrigation systems in Albania. In thisapplication, the procedure was introducedto assess, monitor, and regulate, overtime, the condition of government-ownedirrigation infrastructure; management,operation and maintenance of which has beentransferred to Water Users Associations andFederations of Water Users Associations. The paper describes the procedures used tocarry out asset surveys, and to process anduse the data collected. The procedureshave been found to be relevant andapplicable to the conditions experienced inAlbania and a valuable mechanism forfocussing the attention of Water UserAssociations and Federations of Water UsersAssociations on sustaining and enhancingthe condition of the irrigationinfrastructure.     

水价改革对农业节水发展的影响

农业供水价格的制订与实施,对灌区节水灌溉的发展具有重要的作用。根据灌区现行水价过低导致农业水资源浪费的现状,讨论导致水价偏低的主要原因,提出推进水价改革的合理化建议。     

Estimation of a network irrigation efficiency to cope with reduced water supply

The overall irrigation efficiency, e_p, for the irrigationnetworks in the Thessaloniki plain, in Northern Greece, wasestimated from historical data, spanning eight years. Irrigationnetworks differ regarding the method of water delivery and themethod of field application. Overall irrigation efficiency is theparameter which helps to adjust water supply to meet the actualcrop water requirements. A method is introduced which calculatesnetworks e_p using spatially distributed data. Efficiencyvalues for all systems were calculated using the proposed method.Seasonally averaged e_p values for eight years for 32(surface and sprinkler) irrigation networks ranged from 0.38 to0.81. Analysis of the time series e_p values can identifyoperational factors that might affect network e_p. Sprinklerand surface network irrigation efficiencies did not show anysignificant difference.     

新疆三工河流域灌区实行节水灌溉水费标准分析

利用工程实际资料，对井渠结合灌区的供水成本及水费标准进行分析讨论，提出现阶段水费计收标准以及加强灌区灌溉管理、降低供水成本、提高灌溉效益的初步建议，并为灌区作物结构优化设计提供依据。     

我国农业灌溉水费管理的初步研究

指出我国灌区普遍存在工程老化、效益递减、灌区管理单位经费短缺、发展困难等现象。灌区的主要经费来源是灌溉水费,而水费计收标准低、收缴困难、中间环节多、难以到位。灌溉水费管理中存在的这些问题,使得灌区工程的维修、改造与更新不能得到保证。分要认为：灌溉水费管理改革,应围绕提高水费收缴率和使用效率、保证专款专用而展开,不仅要采用科学的、符合商品经济规律的水费计收标准,而且在水费收交的过程中应减少中间环节,杜绝截留、挪用。此外,实施国家对农业水费的补贴政策,加大政府对农田水利基本建设的投入力度,建立与完善灌溉水费管理的法规规章与制度,也是加强水费管理的必要措施。