Full Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, Issue ...

104Lamoree and van Steenbergenand non-repair is common.3. In many irrigation systems, non-paymentof dues or manipulation of bills throughunderassessment is a major factor. As long asthis is the case, any strategy centered on waterpricing is bound to be ineffective.4. In semi-humid areas, irrigation is a “back up”service in case rains fail; irrigation demandas a result fluctuates from year to year. Inthese situations, demand management throughpricing could undermine the financial viabilityof the irrigation operations.5. Most important, major gains in irrigationefficiency particularly in large systems, do notoccur necessarily at the farm level where thepricing argument would work, but at the mainsupply level.A telling example of the argument describedabove comes from the Krishna Delta in AndhraPradesh, South India. During the three-yeardrought, a more efficient scheduling of mainsystem irrigation supplies was introduced. This notonly prevented a drop in production levels, but infact even resulted in slightly increased crop yields.In the same drought period, irrigation supplies tothe irrigation canals in Sindh Province in Pakistandecreased 20 percent, but again agriculturalproductivity remained at the same level. There wasa drastic reduction in water logging in the Province(from 2 million ha to less than 500,000 ha) and amove towards conjunctive use of shallow groundwater and surface water supplies.The main weakness in the economic goodsargument is that water has been seen as a“commodity” or “good” only in the sense thatcharges should be raised for providing it. In manyinstances, the cost recovery argument has donemore harm than good. It has tended to move theattention away from improving the quality ofoperations or rationalizing costs. The latter isnot a small issue. There are many examples ofenormous financial wastages in the water sector.In the irrigation system in Punjab Province ofPakistan, for instance, energy charges for deepdrainage wells made up more than 50 percent ofthe expenditure, long after these deep wells losttheir functionality. In such situations the questionarises whether it makes sense to recover such costsfrom water consumers.The other harm comes from the exclusive focus inmany areas on the largest group of water consumers– farmers. In poor countries this is the most difficultgroup to tax, if only because of their sheer numbersin many countries and the relatively small amountsto be billed. Opportunities for charging otherwater users (e.g., industries, municipalities, leisureoperators) have often not been exploited. It shouldbe noted in this context that the absence of broadbasedorganizations focused on multiple values isan important shortcoming of governance systems.The final drawback of the paradigm is the focus onwater as a good to be allocated and paid for, turningaway attention from the many other values createdwith water that can be capitalized and collected.From an integrated development and managementpoint of view, water and water management shouldbe seen as an important ingredient in local areadevelopment and sustainable management; goodwater management services will improve thefunctions and values in the area.The “water as an economic good” paradigm,and in particular the commodification of wateras a tradable asset, are reductionist approachesto making water management manageable on thebasis of a measurable and quantifiable basis. Suchan approach is justifiable so long as it does notlead to the notion that water management can orshould be performed on the basis of the economicaspects of water only. Water has many aspects andhence many functions with different values, eachof them important to a different set of legitimatestakeholders. All these values provide businessopportunities that should be capitalized uponand used to finance investment and operation. Inaddition, water management produces values thatare of a general public good nature, for instancegeneral flood protection or maintaining ecologicalbalances. Such values should be paid for fromgeneral taxes or public funding.The Institutional Way ForwardIntegrated Water Resource Management(IWRM) with its emphasis on optimizing manyfunctions, addressing different categories of values(economic, social, environmental), and setting up ameaningful engagement of different stakeholders isUCOWRJOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION