Devolution of water management to local level: The case of Gonen Plain Irrigation Union

Questions surrounding the management of common natural resources are controversial issues in the literature. Elinor Ostrom oppose to central regulations and market mechanisms and argues that the solution concerning the management of natural resources lies in the delegation of decision making powers to the local people, in the light of good governance and participatory resource management principles. In this context, management of water resources for irrigation is one of the controversial issues in the management of commons. The General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (SHW) managed the irrigation system of Turkey since 1950's. Large parts of the irrigation facilities constructed in this process were operated directly by SHW. SHW started to transfer facilities to Irrigation Unions after 1990, considering economic and administrative concerns in parallel to international trends. In this way, it is intended to provide more efficient and effective water resources management. Yet again, there are questions concerning to what extent those expectations about efficiency and effectiveness were fulfilled in the field. The aim of this study is to examine Gönen Plain Irrigation Association Case, in which irrigation management is localized and transferred to users through irrigation association and analyse to what extent expected efficiency and effectiveness goals were met. The data used in the thesis was acquired through observations, interviews with the farmers and documents of the water user association and SHW. The main result and findings of the study demonstrates that re-centralisation of authorities prevents a genuine participatory structure. The irrigation union needs an accountable management who would be able to identify problems and enhance farmer participation in the process.