Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
portedly made at a village meeting, most of the people interviewed have not yet been asked to
make a payment and did not know that they are expected to pay for water in the future. Some
people heard rumors about future fees. The attitude towards fees differed: some considered
them to be justified as the canal was repaired now, while others were reluctant. This contra
dicts statements by the WUA chair who claimed that after some initial difficulties, 80% of the
farmers now paid their fees.
It also has to be mentioned that there are no water meters to monitor exactly how much
water each farmer uses. The mirab calculates the water volume by the flow velocity. The ISF is
calculated according to land size and not according to actual water use. As all farmers grow
more or less the same products (due to state prescriptions and subsistence agriculture), they
also use more or less the same amount of water.
Community awareness is seen as a key component to reach sustainability of the WUA and
to change patterns of behavior in water management. Like all CD programs, GAA conducted
several awareness raising campaigns in Iskodar. Before the VDC was established, GAA staff
visited the village about twelve times during three months and organized meetings and semi
nars. GAA met in the beginning with a group of eight people, including the rais of the DF,
representatives of the Mahalla committee, the school director and the mullah. They were asked
to spread information and invite more people to future meetings. 260
The members of the VDC/WUA council were elected by a general village assembly. This
meeting was reportedly attended by 70 to 80 mainly male participants of all three mahallas . The
villagers are requested to contribute 25% of the costs of the rehabilitation project as another
means to ensure ownership and sustainability. Since they can “pay” these with working time,
several hashars have been organized to do the necessary work. This was organized by the chair
of the VDC, the rais .
Despite awareness raising activities, hardly anyone of the interviewed villagers knew of ei
ther the VDC or the WUA. If people knew of the VDC, it was because of the presentation of
GAA. Even then, it was not entirely clear to them what the VDC and the WUA do exactly.
The usual reaction from people who had heard of the WUA was: “Yes, they were here, they
rehabilitated the canal” or “They brought the drinking water to the mahalla .” Virtually no one
was aware that he or she was a member of this organization. Also those villagers who partici
pated in the hashars were not really aware of the meaning of WUA. People relate these events
to the rais and not to the VDC or the WUA. Even one member of the VDC did not know
about the WUA. This man was not even sure whether he was a member of the VDC, as he is a
member of almost all important groups at the village, jamoat , and raion levels: “There is now
this VDC in the village. I am probably a member there as well. Well, I am a member every
where. Wherever they establish a group, they elect me to it.” 261 The WUA under scrutiny is
part of a CD project with presumably more community mobilization activities than in top
down established WUAs. Still, broad community awareness is virtually non existent.
General Assessment of WUA Reform
The current situation of irrigation management is characterized by a “multitude of pilot expe
rimentations on the local, rural levels” (UNDP, UNECE, National Working Group 2005: 3).
These “experiments” are conducted by international donor organizations and reflect their
interests and ideologies. National water agencies play only a marginal role in the whole irriga
260 Author's interview with a GAA staff member, Aini, 09/29/2005.
261 Author's interview with the director of the mahalla committee, Iskodar, 09/30/2005
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