Institutional Design Principles for Accountability on Large Irrigation Systems

Abstract

"Two systems of management are distinguished systems controlled and managed by local user organizations, and systems owned and controlled by government agencies. There is a consistent, but not perfect, relationship between governance arrangements and performance. Using a variety of measures of performance, a number of studies provide statistical evidence that the performance of self-governing systems is higher than that of government-managed systems. Other studies document improvements in performance of government systems through the creation of water users associations (WUAs), although the sustainability of these improvements is often problematic. The sustainability of these improvements is often uncertain, primarily due to problems in accountability."