Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
broken to let water flow onto certain fields. 240 There were no reports that farmers who do not
pay were cut off from the water supply after non payment. There is an “absence of clear pay
ment mechanisms” (SPECA 2004: 67), which have not been defined by the government or the
MinVodKhoz . In fact, the service of water delivery in many places is still free of charge.
In addition, it is currently impossible to measure the amount of water delivered to farmers
due to widely non existent measuring facilities. There are no water meters at the DFs, and even
at the points of water delivery to the FSKs, measurement facilities exist at only about one third
of these (MIWM, UNDP, EC IFAS 2006: 18). There are no government plans to introduce
metering systems nationwide, which would be a prerequisite for the effective implementation
of volumetric payment. Due to the lack of measurement points at tertiary channels, it is actual
ly not possible to measure the exact amount of water delivered to one field. Hence, the amount
of ISF farmers must pay is not calculated according to their actual water consumption but
according to estimations based on the area of land and crop cultivated. 241 Even when ISFs are
paid, they are therefore volumetric only in theory.
7.3.4
Transfer of Irrigation Management
During the process of land reform, thousands of new independent farms came into existence.
Instead of several hundreds of kolkhoze s and sovkhozes that had to be supplied with water, there
are now more than 20,000 farms (see chapter 5.5.3). This implies that the RaiVodKhoz would
have to make a contract with each individual farmer a task far beyond its capacities. There
fore, it seems more practicable that the individual water users along one channel unite into one
association and distribute the water among themselves on their own. The reform of local irri
gation management in Tajikistan transfers the responsibility of the tertiary channels (on farm
channels 242 ) to such Water User Associations (WUAs). They are expected to be responsible for
the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the irrigation system in their area, the collection of
ISF, and equitable water distribution and conflict resolution (Water Code § 43).
A Water User Association is an independent member organization with a democratically
elected board and an executive staff. It finances itself with members' payments for the service
of water delivery. The first projects to establish Water User Associations (WUAs) in Tajikistan
were conducted by the World Bank within the framework of the Farm Privatization Project
(1999 2005) and the Rural Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (2000 2006) (World Bank
2001a). 243 Their primary objective is the development of the agricultural sector. Within this
framework they provide grants for the rehabilitation of irrigation systems. WUAs were estab
lished essentially to be responsible for the rehabilitated irrigation systems to ensure their main
tenance and hence the sustainability of the project. The implementation agency is the specially
established Center for Farm Privatization Support (CFPS) at the Ministry of Agriculture (see
7.1.2). The CFPS developed together with the MinVodKhoz an exemplary WUA charter that
was endorsed by the government (Rakhmatilloev et al. 2003: 102).
240 Author's interview with Vice-Minister of the MinVodKhoz , Dushanbe, 10/09/2004.
241 Author's interview with two officials of the CFPS, Dushanbe, 10/09/2003; with two officials of the Environmental
Ministry, Dushanbe, 10/07/2003.
242 The term 'on-farm channels' refers to the channels on the territory of the former kolkhozes or sovkhozes , for which
these used to be responsible, in contrast to off-farm channels, which are state-managed.
243 Author's interview with a representative of the World Bank, Dushanbe, 10/21/2003; with a senior official at
MinVodKhoz , Dushanbe, 08/20/2004.
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