Thematic paper 3: Urban-rural tensions - Groundwater Governance

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groundwater management will not be resolved until governments seek to work with groundwater users and resisttrying to regulate and control them.4.2 Groundwater governance.Groundwater is a classical ‘common pool resource’, a term used to describe a natural resource whose size orcharacteristics makes it virtually impossible to exclude potential beneficiaries from deriving benefits from its use.Such resources are vulnerable to the so-called ‘tragedy of the commons’ (Harding, 1968) in which actual andpotential stakeholders act solely in their own individual short-term self-interest rather than taking into account longtermcommunal requirements. While Hardin recommended that the tragedy of the commons could be prevented byeither more government regulation or privatizing the commons property, Ostrom (1990; 2005) suggests that simplypassing control of local areas to national and international regulators can generate even greater problems. Ostromargues that the tragedy of the commons may not be as prevalent or as difficult to solve as Hardin implies, sincelocals often demonstrate an ability to find solutions to the commons problem themselves; when the commons istaken over by national regulators, those solutions can no longer be used. Ostrom’s work provided a series of designprinciples for stable local common pool resource management (Ostrom, 1990; 2005; 2009a; 2009b). In terms ofgroundwater governance, the “Ostrom Principles”, provide a practical guide to co-operative groundwatermanagement and are especially appropriate for urban groundwater management given the multitude of potentiallycompeting interests. Based on the Ostrom principles the management approach would involve (Foster et al.,2010a):Clearly-defined boundaries for resource evaluation and allocation, and congruence with prevailing localconditions and constraints;Formal recognition by government of the water management rights of the community;Collective arrangements for decision making;Layers of nested stakeholder groups to cope with larger resource systems;Effective monitoring with stakeholder involvement;Graduated sanctions on users who do not comply with communal rules;Low-cost, efficient conflict-resolution mechanisms.The character of groundwater also means that links with the governance of the environment, and other land andwater resources, are decidedly relevant. For example, groundwater resources are highly dependent upon land-usein the main ‘aquifer recharge areas’ and any changes in land-use can significantly affect both the rates and quality ofrecharge. Thus, groundwater governance cannot be addressed without due consideration for the processes thatdetermine or control land-use. In urban areas, land-use is generally controlled by the municipal or local government,and the absence of mechanisms whereby water resource agencies can influence land use planning is a commongovernance weakness. By the same token, the groundwater supply for many urban areas is obtained from periurbanwell fields such that rural land-use practices and the intensification of agricultural production (largelydetermined by national agriculture and food policy) exert a very strong influence on groundwater recharge ratesand quality.It is also important to appreciate the effect ‘cross-sector drivers’ may have on groundwater resource use andpollution potential since it is likely that provisions will be required to influence associated macro-level policydecisions.Figure 7 shows the key elements required for the development and implementation of an “Action Plan” forsustainable groundwater management (Foster et al., 2010a). While there can be no “one-size-fits all” when it comesto models of groundwater governance, Figure 7 provides a blueprint for developing governance structures for arange of situations including urban areas. Significantly, the starting point must always involve a thorough32
understanding of the resource setting. It will include the definition of the manageable groundwater bodies 4 , andwill be followed by assessments of the hydrogeologic condition and socioeconomic situation. These factors, inessence, define the problem and shape the solution.The cumulative operational experience of GW-MATE in assessing the effectiveness of existing provisions andcapacity for the exercise of adequate groundwater governance (in areas where groundwater resources areexperiencing significant stress from intensive development and/or pollution pressure) has been distilled into apriority list of benchmarking criteria. These are shown in Table 6 (Foster et al., 2010a).Figure 7. A framework for the development and implementation of a groundwater management action plan withcorresponding governance provisions (modified after Foster et al., 2010a).4 ‘groundwater bodies’ are defined as resource management units with clearly-defined and scientifically-sound boundaries (usually parts ofaquifer systems), which can be related, as necessary, to the overall basin in which they occur.33
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