Basin Water Management: Sharing
the Basin. Bases, Trends, Lessons Learned
by: Eduardo Mestre
Broadly, RBWM issues
are briefly presented (Regional water policy and RBM policy; political
willpower; decentralizing water management; public awareness, public
participation and involvement; empowering people in RBM; legal instruments
and law enforcement; institutional/operative arrangements; agreements
between society - water users and government; RBO's; social, economic,
political and environmental priorities and issues; regional historical
experiences with regards to RBM; regional water agenda; baseline knowledge
on water resources; RB data generation and information systems; RB planning
including monitoring, evaluation & feedback; water allocation/administration
(licensing and regulation); water as an economic, social and environmental
good; water economics and finances; basin tariffs-polluter-user-payer
principle; financial instruments; willingness to pay; water culture;
capacity building; applying technological development; networks of RBM
experiences and RBOs approaches, et al), together with issues on sharing
the basin (Crucial externalities such as poverty; hunger; education
and health; housing; economic exogeneous factors; history; governance);
internalities: scarcity (quantity/quality) or abundance; base knowledge;
education and social participation, etc.
RBWM key elements,
means, actors, objectives, instruments (institutional, legal, planning,
financial, etc.) and output indicators are introduced (who is involved,
and the interests of those involved; resources at stake: scarcity or
abundance; interactions among stakeholders and resources; competition,
conflicts)
Further discussion
on regional:
- Competition among
uses/users, conflict prevention, mitigation/solving; water allocation
(mechanisms and conflicts), pollution - vulnerability-risk, water
economies/markets.
- Water management
policy issues. (objectives: problem solving or potential tapping?)
What is being done
to 'share the basin' RBM's are discussed. Their approach; purposes;
different genesis, structure and operational schemes. What can RBM(O)s
do? Help align water realties and macro development goals; harmonize
interests among stakeholders; help chose infrastructure, facilitate
its financing and implementation; provide means to jointly define sustainability
for a region/river; develop coordinated actions plans and creating RB
Planning Frameworks for future actions; assure water balances, environmental
integrity and minimum flows and establishing rules; Technical Cooperation-Joint
Research, Joint Problem Id and Analysis, Shared Vision; Standardization
of Data Collection; Exchange Info; Monitoring: Quality and Quantity;
influencing water allocation decisions of users; enforcing agreements;
and dispute resolution.
A briefing on allocation
and short-term distribution mechanisms (water markets, water banks).
Brief examples
related to the underdeveloped world (Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina)
are given on what has been done to 'share the basin'
Drawing some conclusions
on lessons learned. Should RBOs be suggested, promoted, supported or
enforced? Is there an "ideal" RBO model? Should new approaches
be created? Should existing ailing RBO's be assessed and supported or
left to vanish? Having sustainable, relevant, cost-efficient RBO's:
ideal or a goal?
The Case of Morocco
by: John Thomas and Mohamed Hanafi
Morocco's main development
challenges can be summarized into three inter-related objectives that
cut across sectors: achieving higher growth to reduce poverty and unemployment;
decreasing rural/urban disparities; and managing water shortages. With
regard to the latter, the amount of renewable water is estimated at
less than 1,000 cubic meters per person per year, ranking Morocco as
water scarce. Shortages in local and seasonal water availability are
exacerbated by more frequent and severe droughts over the last few decades.
Nearly 90 percent of water is used in agriculture, with competing demands
for industry, urban development, and tourism. With demand exceeding
supply in some basins, 5 of the 8 watersheds already have permanently
declining aquifer levels. Furthermore, water management has traditionally
been technocratic and centralized, with a focus on supply rather than
demand management.
Faced with these
problems, Morocco has radically change its perception with regard to
water. A new water law, based on the principles of integrated water
resources management (IWRM), was passed in 1995. A key feature of the
law is the creation of seven River Basin Agencies (RBA) responsible
for all actions concerning water management at the regional level, specifically:
planning; water rights; allocation through withdrawal permits; and pollution
control through discharge permits.
The presentation
on Reef to Ridge: Sharing the Basin—The Case of Morocco will examine
how Morocco has gone about implementing its new water law, including
the creation of RBAs, the problems encountered, approaches to remedy
the problems, and recommendations for IWRM in other countries.
In the case of Morocco,
while some progress has been made during the past six years, the government
is still grappling with many institutional and policy issues, including:
too many overlapping ministries in charge; distrust and misunderstanding
of what an RBA is; barriers to inter-agency cooperation at the regional
level; policy disincentives to adopt more efficient irrigation methods
and appropriate crop selection; and reluctance to change from a supply
to demand management approach. In addition to these internal constraints,
several external factors have complicated Morocco's attempts at IWRM,
such as: recurring drought; financing; a high rate of urbanization;
and a fast growing economy, especially for fruit and vegetable exports.
To help overcome
some of these problems, USAID/Morocco launched a new Strategic Objective
(SO) to support the government's move toward decentralized management
of water resources from the national level to regional authorities.
Under this SO, USAID works with many partners to help establish an effective
RBA in the Souss-Massa watershed in southern Morocco. Although there
is still a long way to go, USAID is making some progress in breaking
down the barriers to decentralization and interagency collaboration.
Getting the RBA up and running as an impartial and transparent coordinating
and decision-making agency is key to USAID's and the GOM's success.
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