#22: Groundwater users associations

Groundwater users associations gather all users (and NGOs) to allow regular meetings to discuss, coordinate and decide on management questions regarding their aquifer.

The involvement of local actors and citizens is key for managing rivers in a sustainable way, better coordinating public action across levels of government and reducing conflicts at the local level. Widening public participation is seen as a means to increase transparency of environmental policies and citizens’ compliance with it. Transparency in the establishment of objectives, the imposition of measures and the reporting of standards is seen to empower citizens to influence the direction of environmental protection.

The Eastern Mancha is one of the largest aquifers in Spain. Groundwater users organized creating in 1994 an association called Junta Central de Regantes de la Mancha Oriental (JCRMO), which includes mainly farmers and Irrigation Communities, but also public and industrial users. The different members of the association work together to defend collectively their common interests and manage the area’s seven groundwater bodies to develop a sustainable utilization of their water resources. To this end, the JCRMO issues every year a document known as “Exploitation Plan” which includes a set of criteria for the authorization of water use for its members. Reported cases of non-compliance with the plan may eventually lead to the imposition of sanctions including monetary fines by the JCRMO Water Jury. Notice how this Jury is an internal body of the association and is not part of the Water Authority. This type of organization configures as a form of partnership between the administration and the farmers, where the latter set and enforce standards for

Water management refers to the activities of analysing and monitoring water resources, as well as developing and implementing measures to keep the state of a water resource within what has been negotiated as desirable bounds (Pahl-Wostl, 2015).

Pahl-Wostl, C. (2015). Water Governance in the Face of Global Change—From Understanding to Transformation. Wiesbaden: Springer International Publishing.

under the supervision of the former.