Water Rights in the State of Nature: The Dynamic Emergence of Common Expectations in an Indonesian Settlement

Abstract

"This study examines how a socially recognized and predictable pattern of water rights and allocation emerged from a process of trial and error with water allocation and negotiations in a resettlement area in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Balinese farmers in two newly developed irrigation systems recognized that the traditional rule of water allocation that divides water proportionately to area served was a simplistic first approximation.

"Through inter-personal exchanges a set of socially-recognized criteria emerged to justify certain farmers in taking more than proportional amounts of water, 'borrowing water,' in response to diversity among fields in soils, access to secondary water supplies, distance from the headworks and other factors. A decision tree model uses field observations of water distribution over two seasons to assess criteria used for modifying distribution. Such criteria constituted a second approximation for more equitable water allocation among farmers."