Improving the performance of small and medium scale water sector project through participatory water management

Abstract

As populations expand and make various uses of water, its growing scarcity becomes a serious issue in developing countries such as Bangladesh. Water can no longer be considered a totally free resource, and plans must be developed for its efficient use through better management and rules that preserve everybody's access to it and interest in its development especially in case of flood control, drainage and irrigation (FCDI) systems. Initially, all types of water sector schemes (small-scale ~1000 ha, medium scale: 1000-5000 ha, and large-scale >5000 ha) were implemented through Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) in Bangladesh. From the assessment of past performance of water sector schemes, it has been found that the performances of large and medium scale FCDI schemes of BWDB vary from medium success to poor or complete failure because of lack of beneficiary participation in project implementation, operation and management. Since 1998, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has been given power to plan, design and implement the water resources schemes up to 1000 ha. Small Scale Water Resources Development Sector Projects (SSWRDSP), under implementation by LGED, aims at sustainable agricultural growth and poverty alleviation by developing water resources, with much emphasis on people's participation. At present, many of the irrigation, drainage and flood control schemes in Bangladesh are jointlymanaged between the Government and the beneficiaries. Further, it is widely experienced, even in the older schemes, that the beneficiaries are not responding well to their role in these jointly-managed schemes, and that they fail to become active partners in the day-to-day management. Normal problems encountered in these schemes are: no clear operational instructions which lead to irritations between the technicians and the farmers, no equitable water distribution at field level, no cost recovery, no proper conflict-handling, etc. etc. It is the wish of the Government that these problems are solved, and thus a suitable management model is prerequisite. The performance of existing FCD! projects can be significantly improved by developing a suitable' management approach that will have a strong institutional setting. In Bangladesh, it is prime needed to develop water management system through participatory approach, especially in case of irrigation, drainage and flood control systems. This thesis deals with the development of such a participatory water management system in order to improve the performance ofFCD! schemes. The study was conducted on four of the LGEDs Small Scale FCD/I Sub-Projects and one medium scale FCD! project of BWDB located in different parts of Bangladesh. The main objective of the study was to improve the performance of the existing water sector projects by developing participatory water management system. In the course of making the suggestion tor suitable management approach, performance evaluation considering the agriculture. socio-economic and environmental aspects has been performed and the efficiency constraints have been identified. Improper system maintenance and lack of beneficiary participation was found to be the main reason behind the lesser success of the water schemes. It is revealed that partial decentralization in LOED' schemes helps in sustainable agricultural and overall financial development, but almost in every case the rate of farmers' involvement or beneficiary participation in system management was found to be not satisfactory. The performance can be improved significantly by enabling increased people's participation in local level. Recommendations have been made with high emphasis on peoples' participation and alternative management model have been suggested to overcome many of the efficiency constraints for both small and medium scale projects.