Analysis of water management structures of an Integrated Water User Group in the Chao Phraya Delta, Thailand

An Integrated Water User Group (IWUG) plays an important role assisting an irrigation project to control water distribution, expand the cropping area, operate and maintain irrigation facilities, and disseminate crucial information about the water situation to all farmers based on water supply from an irrigation agency. In this article, we present our analysis of the management of a newly established IWUG, based on a field survey in Thailand. We attempt to clarify the characteristics of irrigation management in the IWUG, while focusing on four functional processes: decision, operation, monitoring, and feedback. Thus, we analyze the water management structure and provide suggestions for better management of the IWUG. The main results of our analysis are as follows: (1) the current state of the IWUG 18R canal is not fully successful. There are second generation problems that need to be solved; (2) The upstream farmers dominate the use of the IWUG 18R canal because the establishment process of downstream WUGs was loosely performed because of a limited budget for on-farm irrigation development; (3) Water distribution structure and membership charging are not simple and uniform along the lateral irrigation canal because of the water availability of return flow from the downstream area. Such structure should be recognized and discussed to improve the future water distribution in relation to membership fees.