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South Africa's legally binding National Water Resource Strategy specifies a people-oriented prioritization for the equitable allocation of the nation's public trust of surface and groundwater resources. This article analyses how the Inkomati–Usuthu Catchment Management Agency seeks to operationalize the three highest priorities in the Sabie Sub Catchment: the Basic Human Needs Reserve for domestic and constitutionally based productive water uses; customary water tenure in former homelands prioritized over the upstream commercial forestry and large-scale farming and the downstream Kruger National Park; and priority General Authorizations overcoming administrative injustices of current licensing. These highest priorities imply curtailment of the lowest priority, high-impact economic uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater is increasingly regarded as a valuable resource, but to fully and safely exploit the potential, sound institutional arrangements governing its reuse are crucial. This article presents a case study of a self-managed irrigation scheme in Western Cape, South Africa, that uses treated effluent directly, formally and safely. By applying the Institutional Analysis and Development framework, the variables within the context, action arena and patterns of interaction that have enabled this outcome are systematically identified and evaluated. Key variables include: water scarcity; an effective policy and regulatory framework; public pollution prevention awareness; self-organization; and capital-intensive water use linked to profitable markets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: As the pressure on the water resources mounts within a river basin, institutional innovation may occur not as a result of a planned sequence of adjustments, but arising out of the interplay of several factors. By focusing on the basin trajectory this paper illustrates the importance of understanding how local-level institutional arrangements interface with national-level policies and basin-wide institutions. We expand Molle''s typology of basin actors responses by explicitly introducing a meso-layer which depicts the interface where State-level and local-level initiatives and responses are played out; and focus on how this interaction finds expression in the creation and modification of hydraulic property rights. We subsequently apply this perspective to the case of Pangani River Basin in Tanzania. The Pangani River Basin development trajectory did not follow a linear path and sequence of responses. Attempts by the state government to establish ‘order’ in the basin by issuing water rights, levying water fees and designing a new basin institutional set-up have so far proven problematic, and instead generated ‘noise’ at the interface. So far water resources development in the Pangani has primarily focused on blue water, and the paper shows how investments in infrastructure to control blue water have shaped the relationship between water users, and between water user groups and the State. It remains unknown, however, what the implications will be of widespread investments in improved green water use throughout the basin – not only hydrologically for the availability of blue water, but also socially for the livelihoods of the basin population, and for the evolving relationships between green and blue water users, and between them and the State. The paper concludes with a question: will green water development engender a similar double-edged material-symbolic dynamic as blue water development has. The findings of this paper demonstrate that the expanded typology of basin actors’ responses helps to better understand the present situation. Such an improved understanding is useful in analysing current and proposed interventions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Tanzania is currently attempting to improve water resources management through formal water rights and water fees systems, and formal institutions. The water rights system is expected to facilitate water allocation. The water fees system aims at cost-recovery for water resources management services. To enhance community involvement in water management, Water User Associations (WUAs) are being established and, in areas with growing upstream–downstream conflicts, apex bodies of all users along the stressed river stretch. The Mkoji sub-catchment (MSC) in the Rufiji basin is one of the first where these formal water management systems are being attempted. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of these systems in the light of their expected merits and the consequences of the juxtaposition of contemporary laws with traditional approaches. The study employed mainly qualitative, but also quantitative approaches on social and technical variables. Major findings were: (1) a good mix of formal (water fees and WUAs) and traditional (rotation-based water sharing, the Zamu) systems improved village-level water management services and reduced intra-scheme conflicts; (2) the water rights system has not brought abstractions into line with allocations and (3) so far, the MSC Apex body failed to mitigate inter-scheme conflicts. A more sophisticated design of allocation infrastructure and institutions is recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

When considering water management, formal institutions tend to overshadow the local informal ones although the latter guide day-to-day interactions on water use. Conversely, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has demonstrated a bias toward the formal state-based institutions for water management. A study was carried out to examine how local water rights and local informal institutional arrangements influence water management in the Great Ruaha River catchment in the Rufiji basin in Tanzania. Participatory appraisals were carried out, supplemented by focus group discussions, interviews, and a stakeholders’ workshop. It was found that local water rights, local water rotations and local water user groups are widely in use and are more influential than the formal water rights, water fees and water user associations (WUAs). Water allocation at the driest period depends on local informal relations among irrigators. More than 70% of water users surveyed choose to settle disputes over water via informal channels and the latter are more effective in resolving water conflicts and reconciling the antagonists compared to the formal routes. It was also found that although much emphasis and many resources have been expended in transforming local water rights and water related organisations to formal registered ones, the former have remained popular and water users feel more affiliated to local arrangements. The paper concludes that local informal water management can offer the best lessons for the formal management arrangements and should not be simply overlooked. Finally, the paper recommends that the formal and informal institutions should be amalgamated to bring forth a real Integrated Water Resource Management framework. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Understanding the nature of water conflict and cooperation is a crucial element in water governance within Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Much of the recent attention to the issue has however focused on transboundary aspects, while we know rather less about the nature and dynamics of local water conflict and cooperation. Drawing on the work of the collaborative Competing for Water Research Programme, this article presents selected findings from a quantitative and qualitative mapping and exploration of water conflict and cooperation events in Namwala District of Zambia. It is found that local water competition situations often involve both conflictive and cooperative events in a dynamic succession of each other, but also that the majority of events are conflictive, and that they primarily take place between different types of water uses, and less frequently among the same types of uses. There is a distinct tendency for both conflictive and cooperative events to originate in the dry season, and many events are associated with water infrastructure development, particularly boreholes. The study found that most conflictive and cooperative events took place within individual communities, and only to a lesser extent between two or more communities or between districts. While third parties are involved in some events, these are primarily local village institutions such as Headmen. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for local water governance, including the need to ensure that the very localized nature of such conflict and cooperation events is taken into consideration in the institutional development of IWRM. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]