Understanding Water Institutions: Structure, Environment and Change Process

• Published in: Water Governance for Sustainable Development pp. 3 - 20
• Main Author: Saleth, R. Maria
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2006
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Institutions; Organizational change; Sustainable development; Water management; Water resources; Water supply
• ISBN: 9781844073191; 0415852021; 9780415852029; 184407319X
• DOI: 10.4324/9781849773768-2

As the limits of the physical and technical approaches to water resource management are becoming more and more transparent, policy attention is shifting increasingly towards institutional reforms. In fact, the institutional arrangements governing the water sector have experienced remarkable changes in many countries around the world, especially during the past decade or so. These changes, which are more due to purposive reform programmes than to any natural process of institutional evolution, can be observed both at the macro and national levels (eg enactment of water laws, declaration of water policies and organizational reforms) and at the micro and sub-sectoral levels (eg irrigation management transfer, informal water markets and privatization of urban supply). These changes and their implications for water resources management are well documented with varying coverage, details and perspectives (eg Easter et al, 1998; Savedoff and Spiller, 1999; Dinar, 2000; Saleth and Dinar, 2000; Gopalakrishnan et al, 2005).