Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

3 9 8 / P I L O T C A S E S T U D I E S : A F O C U S O N R E A L - W O R L D E X A M P L E SChao Phraya River Basin, ThailandThe status of such organizations is ambiguous and the necessarylegislation is lacking for them to obtain proper legal status.Furthermore, the idea of establishing water user organizationswas not initiated by the water users themselves and historicallythere has been a lack of active farmer participation in all phasesof project development as well as inadequate support from theconcerned agencies. The successful creation and functioning ofwater user organizations depend on establishing obviousadvantages for the water provider. The draft Water Billencourages the creation of such organizations: in effect, SectionD.3, item ii, states that Basin Committees would have toaccommodate, advise and assist water users in formingorganizations for the benefit of conserving, developing andutilizing water resources. The effectiveness of Basin Committeesdepends largely on the involvement of representatives of civilsociety and local water users in drawing up plans for watermanagement and use.LegislationThe 1997 ConstitutionThe enactment of the new Constitution in Thailand in 1997enabled changes in the way the government, its agencies andlocal communities manage the country’s natural resources. TheConstitution is intended to impact on the government’s naturalresources and environmental policies, the implementation andoperation of government projects, and the interpretation ofrelevant laws and regulations. In particular, the newConstitution provides:■ an increased requirement for the state to encourage citizensto participate in preserving, conserving and using naturalresources and biodiversity in a sustainable manner;■ a greater decentralization of government responsibility forthe subdistrict (tambon) level to manage resource use;■ a more direct participation by civil society in planning,managing and utilizing natural resources, and in developingand enacting laws; and■ a greater citizen access to information.These provisions favour the concept of IWRM, which demands ahigh level of community/stakeholder awareness andparticipation, local-level planning and transparency.The overall scope of the new Constitution establishes notonly a climate of open management, but also an obligation forgovernment administrations to implement this approach. This isparticularly relevant to the function and operation oforganizational units to be set up under the project to improvewater sector management in the Chao Phraya basin. There canbe no excuse for not including the basin community/stakeholdersin future water resource management decisions: it is required bythe new Constitution, and it should unleash a new level ofcommitment to achieving a balance of sustainable waterresource management in Thailand.Existing water lawsThailand has at least thirty water-related laws, administered byover thirty departments overseeing water issues in eightministries. 3 Like water policies, the mass of water laws, codesand instructions have all been framed for particular and usuallysingular purposes. There is no umbrella legislation linking theselaws and codes, and consequently there is no legislative backingfor an organization to undertake IWRM. In practice, this resultsin ad hoc and often erratic relationships among all agencies, asthe agencies pursue their narrow objectives and mandates andseem more interested in enhancing water supply to meet thedemands of politically powerful groups. Water permits are notissued and bulk water use for irrigation, hydropower, domestic,town water and industry is not properly controlled. Newdevelopments arise (though many of these are small andoperate locally) and the adverse cumulative impacts of suchimplantations on the equitable distribution of water and on thehealth of the aquatic environment are significant. The absenceof a modern, comprehensive water resource law is probably themost significant factor inhibiting IWRM in Thailand.Draft water resources lawThe inadequacies in the many water-related laws in Thailandhave led to the drafting of a more comprehensive and integrativeWater Bill. However, one fundamental flaw in the draft Water Billis that it does not provide a mandate for any one agency to actas the national water resource manager. This should be at thecore of any water resources law. Although it is specified in thedraft document that the ONWRC is to be the water resourcemanagement agency, the functions specified do not allow theONWRC to undertake comprehensive water resourcemanagement. The draft Water Bill covers water distribution andallocates this role to new River Basin Committees, who are to actas coordinating bodies concentrating largely on strategic naturalresources or water resource planning, with a responsibility for3. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ministry of Transport andCommunication, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of PublicHealth, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Ministry of Education, Ministry ofDefence, and Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.