Abstract
Under climate change, the role of water management organisations is becoming critical for mitigating future water scarcity in Arid Regions. During the last couple of decades, many government-managed water allocation schemes were transferred to private organisations such as water users’ associations (WUAs). The transfer of the water management authority from the government to WUAs had significant impacts on improving operation and maintenance of irrigation facilities as well as increasing the water fee collection rates. However, recently some WUAs are experiencing difficulties in management because of their small-scale operation sizes. This chapter attempts to address the relative efficiency of WUA management by suggesting an alternative composite efficiency index. We observed the case studies earlier conducted on the WUAs in the Lower Seyhan Irrigation Project in Adana, Turkey. And we applied DEA (data envelopment analysis) to compare the efficiency levels with management-, engineering- and welfare-focused models. The analysis revealed that some WUAs are suffering from unfavourable management practices and there is a scope for major reorganisation. Concerning the future climate change and water scarcity in the region, the role of WUAs for efficient management of water resources seems important.
C. Umetsu, Professor, Kyoto University, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto, Japan, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto, Japan; e-mail: umetsu.chieko.5e@kyoto-u.ac.jp. She would like to deeply acknowledge water users’ associations in the Lower Seyhan Irrigation Project area for providing valuable information on water management.
S. Donma, Senior Officer, 6th Regional Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, Adana, Turkey; e-mail: sevgidonma@hotmail.com.
T. Nagano, Associate Professor, Kobe University, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Japan, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto, Japan; e-mail: naganot@ruby.kobe-u.ac.jp.
Z. Coşkun, Agricultural Economist, 6th Regional Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, Adana, Turkey; e-mail: ziyacoskun2008@gmail.com.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
DSİ stands for Devlet Su İşleri Genel Müdürlüğü in Turkish, the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, Government of Turkey.
- 2.
Enacted 18 December 1953; effective 28 February 1954.
- 3.
From authors’ interview survey in summer 2003.
- 4.
da (decare) = 0.1 ha. 1 US$ = 1.64 TL (October 2002).
- 5.
In normal years, the irrigation season starts in April and ends in October.
- 6.
Criteria are often found for performance evaluation focused on engineering. For example, Kanber et al. (2005) analysed the irrigation system performance of various water basins by Turkey using the following criteria: (1) hydraulic performance indicators, (2) economic performance indicators, (3) agricultural performance indicators.
- 7.
Kanalet is a small open concrete-tube canal system used in Turkey that conveys water to the farm.
References
Berkes F (2002) Cross-scale institutional linkages: perspectives from the bottom up. In Ostrom E, Dietz T, Dolšak N, Stern PC, Stonich S, Weber EU (eds) The drama of the commons. Committee on the human dimensions of global change, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Chakravorty U, Umetsu C (2003) Basinwide water management: a spatial model. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 45(1):1–23.
Charnes A, Cooper WW, Rhodes E (1978) Measuring the efficiency of decision-making units. European Journal of Operational Research 2:429–444.
Cooper WW, Seiford LM, Tone K (2000) Data Envelopment Analysis: a comprehensive text with models, applications, references and DEA-Solver Software. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Dayton-Johnson J (2003) Small-holders and water resources: a review essay on the economics of locally-managed irrigation. Oxford Development Studies 31(3):335–339.
Donma S, Pekel M, Kapur S, Akça E (2004) Integrated rural development in river basin management: the Seyhan river basin example. Paper presented at Pilot River Basin Management Conference in 22–24 September, Brindisi, Italy.
DSİ (2003a) Briefing of WUA and year 2002 management activity report, DSİ VI Region, Adana.
DSİ (2003b) Transferred irrigation association year 2002 observation and evaluation report. DSİ VI Region, Lower Seyhan Irrigation Project, Operation and Maintenance Department.
DSİ (2003c) Year 2002 yield census results for areas constructed, operated and reclaimed by DSİ. DSİ Operation and Maintenance Department, Ankara.
Fujihara Y, Tanaka K, Watanabe T, Nagano T, Kojiri T (2008) Assessing the impacts of climate change on the water resources of the Seyhan river basin in Turkey: Use of dynamically downscaled data for hydrologic simulations. Journal of Hydrology 353:33–48.
Kanber R, Ünlü M, Çakmak EH, Tüzün M (2005) Country Report: Turkey Irrigation Systems Performance. Options méditerranéennes, Series B 52:205–226.
Lam WF (1998) Governing irrigation systems in Nepal: institutions, infrastructure, and collective action. Oakland, California: ICS Press.
Mert H (2003) Introduction of General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works and 6th Regional Directorate. Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, DSİ, Adana, November 2003.
Molden D, Sakthivadivel R, Perry CJ, de Fraiture C, Kloezen WH (1998) Indicators for comparing performance of irrigated agricultural systems, IWMI Research Report 20, Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute.
Ostrom E (1990) Governing the commons: the evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scheumann W (1997) Managing salinization: institutional analysis of public irrigation systems. Berlin: Springer.
Svendsen M, Nott G (2000) Irrigation management transfer in turkey: process and outcomes. In Groenfeldt D, Svendsen M (eds) Case studies in participatory irrigation management. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
Tekinel O (2001) Participatory approach in planning and management of irrigation schemes. Advanced Short Course – Appropriate Modernization and Management of Irrigation Systems. Kahramanmaraş, Turkey.
Umetsu C, Lekprichakul T, Chakravorty U (2003) Efficiency and technical change in the Philippine rice sector: A Malmquist total factor productivity analysis. American Journal of Agricultural Econics 85(4):943–963.
Umetsu C, Donma S, Nagano T, Coşkun Z (2006) The efficiency of WUA management in the lower seyhan irrigation project. Journal of Rural Economics: Special Issue 2005. 440–444.
Ward FA (2010) Financing irrigation water management and infrastructure: a review. Water Resources Development 26(3):321–349.
Yazar A (2002) Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) in Turkey: a case study in the Lower Seyhan Irrigation Project. In Hamdy A, Lacirignda C, Lamaddalena N (eds) Water valuation and cost recovery mechanisms in the developing countries of the Mediterranean region. Bari: CIHAM, pp 191–210.
Acknowledgements
This is a partial contribution of Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Systems in Arid Areas (ICCAP) Project, administered by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) and the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). Please address all correspondence to Chieko Umetsu, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502 Japan. Authors appreciate DSİ Region VI Adana for providing valuable information, and the staff of WUAs in LSIP for their kind assistance during our interview survey. Also we appreciate Rıza Kanber, Bülent Özekici and Tsugihiro Watanabe for facilitating the research and Thamana Lekprichakul for technical suggestions. Insightful and detailed comments from Elinor Ostrom are gratefully acknowledged. This paper does not reflect the view of DSİ, and the usual disclaimer applies.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Umetsu, C., Donma, S., Nagano, T., Coşkun, Z. (2019). The Role of Efficient Management of Water Users’ Associations for Adapting to Future Water Scarcity Under Climate Change. In: Watanabe, T., Kapur, S., Aydın, M., Kanber, R., Akça, E. (eds) Climate Change Impacts on Basin Agro-ecosystems. The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01036-2_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01036-2_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01035-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01036-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)