Contestations over a life-giving force: Water rights and conflicts, with special reference to Indonesia

The 2017 Global Risk Report ranked water crisis third among the top six global risks that greatly impact society. While the water crisis is disproportionately distributed worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has more people (most of whom are women) who face water problems compared to other regions worldwide. Through the application of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol version 2020, a systematic review examining the connection between gender and water security, rights, and water conflicts in SSA was done. A total of 24 out of 229 articles made it into the final analysis. Previous research studies on gender politics in the water sector have done so in a fragmented way, focusing on specific water security parameters. The emerging findings show that 14 years after the adoption of an enforceable human right to water and about 6 years prior to the cut-off date for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, matters of gender and water in SSA are far from being addressed. Rural people, especially women, still face multiple water-related challenges and conflicts, including discriminatory practices upholding male hegemony in water governance. It is recommended that actors in the water sector precede the implementation of water projects by understanding contextual settings that influence gendered water security. Furthermore, the implementation of the water Sustainable Development Goal (SGD 6) should be done in the context of SDG 5 (Gender Equity) and the prioritization of procedural water justice and governance, access to technical skills, and water conveyance technologies.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.prisma-statement.org/.

Eco-profile studies help in continuous assessment and monitoring of river basin functions; the planners, and decision-makers deploy study findings to address problems associated within river basins. In this paper, we reviewed the study covering the eco-profile based watershed and river basin management practices and the benefits of eco-profile in understanding and addressing water-related issues at the micro-level. The study uses a systematic literature review approach called the PRISMA framework (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) to collect and process the literature. Our study found that eco-profile based implementations improves the river basin functions and addresses the micro-level issues related to water rights and conflicts that are usually not addressed during water resources management. Through eco-profile study, the key ecological indicators at micro and macro scales can be identified that help to predict the continuous changes of biotic and abiotic conditions within the watershed and river basin regions. The present study discusses the advantage of eco-profile in the watershed, measures to comprehend river basin function, community role, and approach to solve the water rights and conflicts at the micro scale. The study also recommends the inclusion of eco-profile framework and eco-profile policy in integrated water resources management programs specific to river basin/watershed management activities.

Over the past decade there has been increasing alarm worldwide about water scarcity, which, it is feared, will lead to massive malnutrition and famines, thirst, and unhygienic dwelling conditions as well as to violent clashes among different users and even wars between nations. Consequently, as a way of mitigating possible conflicts over increasingly scarce water resources there has been increased attention on clarifying what water rights entail. This in itself has raised another conflict: a conflict over the way in which water rights are defined. Much of the international debate has posed the issue as a simple dichotomy between economic efficiency and basic welfare or human rights. A closer look at the multiple forms of water rights derived from state, customary, local, and religious laws, however, reveals more complexity in the principles and values underlying how rights are defined, both in terms of abstract and specific situations as well as in terms of how they are actualised or put into practice by different parties. Both water rights and the laws from which they are derived are linked to wider cultural meanings and values associated with water and notions about what are fair and just or equitable. Often, several laws and notions of equity coexist and interact in a given social field, such as a community, village, or nation state. There may, for example, be a different constellation of rights and different notions of equity concerning drinking water than concurring irrigation or environmental uses. Therefore, when discussing water rights, it is important not to speak of water in general but to disaggregate water uses and water property regimes; only thus will we understand the plurality of values, meanings and notions of equity attached to water. This paper discusses the links between water rights and the broader meanings, values, and notions of equity attached to water, as reflected in state local laws and selected religious laws. Different conglomerations of rights to water (understood broadly to include both rights to use and rights to control or make decisions) for different uses and in different water (property) rights regimes are examined. More specifically, the state laws of selected Western and non-Western countries; Hindu, Muslim and Christian laws (especially those relating to drinking water); and several local or customary laws dealing with water are discussed. The paper argues that, rather than seeking a single, hegemonic type of water law or valuation of water, recognizing the pluralistic legal frameworks, types of rights, and meanings of water is not only a more realistic viewpoint, but also one which can lead to more productive negotiations over water rights and water use. Water Nepal Vol. Vol.9-10, No.1-2, 2003, pp.37-61

For a long period of time, in Tanzania, the management of water resources was through informal traditional system. However, the complexities of the current nature of water resource use tend to overshadow the capacity performance of local informal institutions in managing water resources. There is an inevitable call for redesigning operational structures of the local informal arrangements to achieve good models of management and organizational standards in traditional water uses, enhance rational and efficient water uses, and hence reduce water conflicts. Using a case study of water user associations in Kimani sub-catchment, this paper reveals that water user associations (WUAs) were created so as to modify the traditional systems, in a sense that they are legally recognized, and as such, they have legal supports that ensure their enforceability. In the Kimani sub-catchment, WUAs are the major institutions owning water rights, and therefore responsible for water distribution to their members. They are instrumental in negotiations and dispute resolution between different water users. Despite the good work done by WUAs, this paper reveals that the absence of water rights and good grazing areas for pastoralists, simple penalties to some of the wrongdoers, poor leadership and general management skills of WUAs, as well as lack of conflict management skills of the committees involved in resolving water conflicts, are some of the challenges facing WUAs operations. This paper further proposes some workable recommendations to improve the performance of WUAs in the study area.

The effective management of water resources in Alberta is crucial to sustainable agriculture, industrial development, and environmental management. The historical water allocation mechanism, administrative apportionment, has been viewed in recent years as ineffective and cumbersome. Accordingly, the revision of the Water Act in 1996, included an attempt to improve the efficiency of water allocation. By making the transfer of water rights possible, the revised Act provides many new options for water use and flexibility. The implications of transferable water rights in Alberta water policy must be carefully considered in order to determine the viability and suitability of such a system in the provincial context. This project examines some of the economic aspects of transferable water rights and the potential for effective water allocation by way of transfers in an Alberta setting. As a major part of this project, a hedonic price model, focusing on land values in southern Alberta, was constructed based on similar models, which have been used elsewhere to value water rights or agricultural products. The hedonic approach to market analysis uses the relationship between the price of land and the attributes of the land, such as water availability, soil quality and location, to explain differences in land prices. In this process, the hedonic model is used to estimate the implicit marginal price or value of each land attribute -- in our case, the marginal value of irrigation water. This value will provide us with an indirect estimate of the value of water rights in the region studied. An advantage of the technique is that it estimates the value that farmers express for irrigation water in the market place for land. Such values, then, give us an indication of the anticipated prices, which might prevail for water rights in southern Alberta. The focus of the study was an area of southern Alberta encompassing the counties of Wheatland, Newell, Cypress, Forty Mile, Taber, Warner, Lethbridge and Vulcan and the irrigation districts of Western, Eastern, St.Mary's, Taber, Lethbridge Northern, and portions of Raymond. Information was collected on the physical and economic characteristics of 230 land parcels, which were sold in this region in 1993 and early 1994. A crude comparison of the value of irrigated agricultural land and non-irrigated agricultural land in the sample reveals that irrigated land was worth, on average, $325 more per acre than non-irrigated land. In the ensuing analysis, it was estimated that the value of a parcel of land was determined largely by the buildings on it, the number of acres in the parcel, the proximity of the parcel to a major city (in this case Calgary or Lethbridge), and by the availability of irrigation water. In the hedonic model, the coefficient values of the variables included represent the marginal impact of each of these characteristics on land prices holding all other things constant. For example, the value of water rights represents the average difference between land values of farms that have access to irrigation and farms that do not. This study estimated that every dollar of improvements to farm buildings translates to a one cent increase in the per acre price of the land parcel, where the addition of one extra acre of land to a land parcel lowers the price per acre by $5.17 per acre. Land prices were seen to increase with the proximity of the parcel to large cities. Similarly, the results of the preferred model indicate that the implicit value of having access to irrigation water in southern Alberta is approximately $190 per acre, or, using the conventional estimate that irrigating one acre of land requires 1.5 acre feet of water, this translates to $126 per acre foot of irrigation water. Accordingly, it is revealed that the existence of water rights adds approximately 35% to the value of non-irrigated land. Since this value represents the implicit amount farmers are willing to pay for access to water, it could also be construed as an indirect measure of the value of water rights. From these results, it is reasonable to conclude that water rights do have a measurable impact on land values. Accordingly, proper incentives may be needed to ensure that water is used efficiently and not incorrectly treated as a relatively free or cheap good. One possible method of policy reform to achieve such a system would be the institution of a system of transferable water rights, permitting water to be traded, or effectively sold, at its market price or scarcity value. Further work was done to determine the potential effects of transferable water rights on the Eastern Irrigation District in southern Alberta. Farm budget information was used to gather information and create twelve representative farm types whose financial performance was analysed using linear programming with increasing water quantity constraints. The resulting productive water values were then used to imply potential reallocations of water among farm types and cropping systems. Analysis of the data gathered revealed that all representative farms faced downward sloping demand functions for water. The overall value of water for a 1% reduction ranged from $8 to $250 per acre foot, with the lowest value belonging to largely pasture operations and the highest value attributed to specialty crop producers. This large range in water values for the region indicates that there is sufficient heterogeneity within the EID to accommodate a transferable rights system. Further analysis of the data reveals that the implementation of a transfer system would result in water being transferred to specialty crop producers and the acreage devoted to specialty crops would increase. Small irrigated pasture operations and cereal crop producers would be the first to give up their water allocations under a transfer system. The analysis indicates that there is considerable potential for economic gains from water trade within this district, the main constraint being the market limitations to expanded specialty crop production. Using these two major studies and other sources, this report concludes with a brief evaluation of the economic advantages, disadvantages and other issues involved in instituting a system of transferable water rights in Alberta. Experience elsewhere, primarily in Australia and the western United States, strongly suggests that transferable water rights, despite some drawbacks and problems of implementation, can be a very worthwhile water policy tool. Now that such tradable water rights are permissible under the revised Water Resources Act of 1996, it is recommended that a pilot project involving transferable water rights be instituted in a water short basin or sub-basin in southern Alberta once a water management plan for that basin is completed.

Multi-objective optimization for allocation of surface water and groundwater resources

The impact of water rights trading on water resource use efficiency: Evidence from China's water rights trading pilots

The purpose of this paper is to examine the harmonization ofprotection of water rights and people's rights to water in theinterests of commercialization of water resources. The researchmethod used is the normative juridical method. The result of thisstudy is that in realizing a balance between the interests of watercommercialization and the fulfillment of people's rights to water,it is necessary to harmonize the law of exploitation of waterresources by providing protection of water rights in order to createwater availability and use of water that is just and moral. Keywords:Commercialization of water,protection of water rights,rights to water.

Water issues driven by water shortages have consistently increased over the last few decades, as water is directly related to the right to live. Most domestic water disputes occur between local governments due to dam construction, water contamination, water intake relocation, and other issues. By contrast, foreign water issues typically occur between countries boarded by rivers that are monopolized by one of the concerned countries. Because the concept of water rights has been applied differently to each issue, water stakeholders are typically unable to obtain sufficient supplies of water to satisfy all water consumers. In this study, the causes, issues, and solutions for both domestic and foreign water disputes are investigated and summarized. Riparian and appropriated water rights are the main controversies surrounding domestic water issues and must be fully investigated and understood. By contrast, foreign water disputes are negotiated between countries based on political, economic, and industrial priorities related to shared rivers, and these too must be fully examined and clarified. The study can be used to provide essential information about possible future domestic water issues such as those related to the Imjin River, which is a shared waterway between South and North Korea.

Water conflicts are rare across Michigan's history. As a result, water rights have received little attention by courts or the legislature. Traditionally, the common law of water rights in Michigan embraces the riparian doctrine for surface water and provides landowners with the right to use groundwater. However, two recent changes in common and statutory law significantly modify the legal relations among water users and others with a stake in water use decisions. A 2005 Michigan Court of Appeals decision created a new legal relation among riparian and groundwater rights holders. In 2008, Michigan's legislature passed laws aimed at regulating surface water and groundwater withdrawals. As an exercise of police power intended to protect public rights in water and associated environmental quality, the 2008 laws cap total water withdrawals. This program of restricting water withdrawals coexists with the state's common law which provides for reasonable use of surface water by riparian landowners and groundwater by owners of the overlying land. The result is a new set of legal relations, an uncertain legal environment, and a growing likelihood of water use conflicts. Because Michigan's body of water law is unique, neither courts nor legislature can rely on solutions used in other states.

Water rights management modeling was considered the useful measure to ensure efficient water resources allocation and to avoid intensifying conflicts over water rights. Regarding to the two major patterns of water rights across the world, namely, quantitative water rights (QWR) and duration-based water rights (DWR), the corresponding measures are fastidious. Since QWR was established to set water entitlements instead of DWR in Heihe River Basin, China, the disability of usual DWR tool, managing water diversion by water intakes closing (WIC) during a certain period, has arisen increasingly. The historical data also reflected the low reliability of DWR in allocating water resources quantitatively without modeling guidelines. Aimed at the challenge, a modeling framework and a mixed integer optimization model (MIOM) combing QWR objectives and DWR tools were developed, by which the optimal schemes in Pareto frontier were found to improve the water intake on/off events, including WIC stages, duration days, and starting date through long term series probability analysis and historical data. Results showed that the reliability of DWR allocation was enhanced and WIC duration was reduced significantly compared with current regulation. Scenario analyses indicated that MIOM was powerful for assisting DWR tool to manage QWR and the proposed framework was able to manage water rights efficiently in comparable basins.

Disempowerment and deprivation of access to irrigation water contribute to poverty. Water rights can yield significant benefits for poor farmers, but changes in water rights institutions pose risks if not well designed and developed. This paper describes pro‐poor options for improving irrigation water rights. Project interventions can deliberately negotiate water rights, for example through share systems, to reduce inequities in distribution and target improved supplies to poor people. Recourse to outside assistance for resolving water conflicts offers protection against local injustice, if water rights of user communities and individuals are suitably recognized. Measurement of water quantities, including suitable proxies such as proportional division of flows and time‐based turns, makes rights meaningful and management more accountable. Legal education and aid can empower poor water users to understand and defend their rights. Reforms in water rights can be sequenced to prioritize secure rights for poor water users. Thus, a range of institutional options is available for designing and implementing pro‐poor reforms in irrigation water rights. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

IntroductionImproving the level of intensive and economical utilization of water resources is an important step towards water and food security.MethodsBased on China’s provincial panel data from 2015 to 2021, this study uses a difference-in-differences (DID) model to examine the effect of agricultural water rights trading on intensive and economical utilization of water resources.ResultsThe results show that agricultural water rights trading can significantly promote an intensive and economical utilization of water resources at the 1% level, and the results remain valid even after a series of robustness tests. Further analysis indicates that agricultural water rights trading can promote better utilization of water resources by significantly reducing agricultural water consumption at the 1% level and reducing the proportion of agricultural water consumption at the 5% level to optimize water use structure. Moreover, in regions with scarce water resources, strong water resource constraints, more farmland water conservancy projects, and greater economic development, the promoting effect of agricultural water rights trading on the intensive and economical use of water resources is more significant.DiscussionThis study provides evidence of the impact of China’s agricultural water rights trading policy and offers new ideas and experiences to improve China’s water resource utilization efficiency. The contributions of this work are mainly threefold. First, this paper clearly distinguishes the intensive conservation of water resources, presents an evaluation index system, and complements the existing literature on measuring the intensive and economical utilization of water resources. Second, the path of agricultural water rights trading is analyzed to improve the level of intensive and economical utilization of water resources, thus enriching related research on transmission mechanisms. Third, the heterogeneity of the influence of different regional conditions on the level of intensive and economical utilization of water resources is discussed to improve relevant policies.

Water justice can be a delicate balancing act. Conservation regulations ensure urban areas’ water demands are met, but these may conflict with the water rights of local people living in catchment areas. No metropolis wants to face water shortages, yet prioritising municipalities’ rights over those of local people can result in water injustice. This paper explores water rights and water justice, defining both to show how the latter is achieved by balancing the former. It examines Chengdu’s water catchment area using field observation, interviews, and document analysis and investigates the causes of water conflict through the lens of local culture. The study then outlines a water justice framework involving domestic habits and lifestyle, production of water, and management principles with the aim of providing parity of rights that highlight local cultural factors. The justice criteria outlined here could also be used in other places where power structures disregard local people’s water rights.

What happens when legal pluralism becomes a policy concept? Or put differently: what are the consequences when legal pluralism enters national laws and policies and thereby ceases to be solely an analytical concept used by scholars to address the plurality of normative orders and institutions that enforce order within a political organisation? This article explores the consequences of legal pluralism as a policy concept, and argues that it is of utmost importance to acknowledge how policies on legal pluralism can give way to different layers of politics in practice. Such ‘politics of legal pluralism’ denotes the, often covert, political interests behind legal pluralism policies and the political implications of how such policies are put into effect. Despite official discourse, the article argues, legal pluralism as a policy concept seldom alone implies a benign recognition of the empirical manifestations of socio-cultural diversity. It also implies a framework for state intervention, regulation and reform, which has political implications. Legal pluralism policies easily become subject to political manipulation or may be political tools in themselves to assert authority and manifest power by state and non-state actors. At the heart of the issue is the fact that justice enforcement, and by extension social ordering, are not neutral, apolitical activities, but political ones: they provide a route to authority and also often to an income.The article draws on the case of Mozambique where legal pluralism has been recognised in the 2004 Constitution, and where a range of state efforts to recognise non-state justice and policing providers have taken place since the civil war ended in 1992. Based on extensive fieldwork since 2002, the article explores the state recognition of traditional authorities in rural areas and the more recent implementation of community policing in urban areas. With these examples, the article shows that the politics of legal pluralism can take the form of at least three layers of politics, but also recognises that these may vary according to context: i.e. the politics of asserting the superior authority of state institutions and law over other existing legal orders or through the establishment of new non-state institutions; the political party interests in controlling non-state legal orders to consolidate power; and local level contestations over power and 'clients' to sustain the authority of a given institution or of personal power positions. In Mozambique the result of these layers of politics is new forms of plurality, but these co-exist with, and are reshaped by, state and regime efforts to monopolise the legal domain, even to such an extent that the very notion of 'pluralism' itself is under constant attack