The social context of water management

In this second post I will try to briefly comment some aspects of the human dimension of water management - always from the humble point of view of an undergraduate student. Therefore, comments, suggestions and corrections on form and contents are always very welcome!

It would maybe be obvious saying that the human dimension of water management should be considered as crucial.
But acually it seems that the 'profile of the human factor in Hydrology' (Saveniie and Van der Zaag, 2008) did not receive wider attention until the 1980s.
In those years, social and ecological constraints gained a greater importance in water management, which in the 1960s and 1970s was predominated by the 'predict and provide' engineering approach.

Savaniie and Van Der Zaag define integrated water resources management in terms of four dimensions, one of which is the 'Water users' one.
This dimension takes into account all the aspects related to water users, the functions they need water for, the quality and quantity of water required.

But it might be said that the 'human factor' does not only consist of the consideration of stakeholders as passive recipients of water management projects, but as active actors in the decision process.

It seems that a participatory approach is crucial to ensure the effectiveness of water management policies. I'll refer just to one case study: the construction  of improved wells in Sierra Leone, mainly undertaken by Integrated Agricultural Development  Projects (IADP).

Bah (1987) reported that in two villages, Gboworbu and Kambia, the improved wells contributed about 5 and 10 per cent respectively to the households’ measured water consumption and only 1 per cent to on-farm water use. The main reason (although this is a simplification of the research) is the distance of improved wells, mainly concentrated in the villages, from farms. Transporting water is difficult, especially during periods of labour shortages, when farmers organise themselves in labour groups of 10-14 peope and therefore greater amounts of water need to be carried to the farms.
Maybe a different allocation of wells, taking into consideration the villagers' activities and the locations in which water is required, would have been more efficient.
Other surveys show that the position of wells affects their use by villagers. For example, the drinking water provided by wells close to mosques is more likely to be used for washing. While headmen can charge on wells located inside their compounds.
It seems that a deeper understanding of village dynamics -in terms of activities, traditions and power relations- could be achieved by involving locals in the decision process (mainly listening to them), in order to make them active actors.

In this sense, we can consider how Van der Zaag (2005) imagines the role of the water manager 'a person who has the capacity and skill to facilitate the decision process, and support it with relevant information. This implies a break with conventional engineering skills that were geared to predict and provide . We now seem to accept that not any one person can claim to know what is the right solution to a problem. The right solution is the agreed solution;the solution over which consensus among all interested parties has been reached—a truly African value'.

Sources:
Bah, O. M. "Community participation and rural water supply development in Sierra Leone." Community Development Journal 27.1 (1992): 30-41.
Savenije, H. H. G., and P. Van der Zaag. "Integrated water resources management: Concepts and issues." Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 33.5 (2008): 290-297.
Van der Zaag, Pieter. "Integrated Water Resources Management: Relevant concept or irrelevant buzzword? A capacity building and research agenda for Southern Africa." Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 30.11 (2005): 867-871.