INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PRACTICES … · INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT...

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Fourteenth International Water Technology Conference, IWTC 14 2010, Cairo, Egypt 749 INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN EGYPT, A CRITICAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS Sherif M. Abdelgawad 1 , Mohamed Nasr-ElDin Allam 2 and Mohamed H. Elgamal 3 1 Assistant Lecturer, Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Professor, Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] 3 Assistant Professor, Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT The Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach has been widely adopted all over the world to manage the scarce water resources efficiently by integrating different sectors and fragmented policies within a national economic framework as well as adopting the demand-driven approach, whereby new technologies are utilized in the allocation and conservation of fresh water supplies. In addition to that, IWRM involves the water users in the management process, which is known as Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). In Egypt, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) aims at employing the PIM concept by increasing water users' participation in water management. This paper presents a review and analysis of IWRM applications in Egypt through several pilot projects at different levels starting from the tertiary level (mesqa level) up to the district level. Water Users' Associations (WUAs), Branch Canal Water Users Association (BCWUAs), Water Boards (WB's) are different projects initiated and tested by the MWRI. The Integrated Water Management District (IWMD) project is also reviewed and discussed in this study. The project's objective is to integrate all water management functions of the MWRI districts and develop a new organizational structure containing four main sections. Evaluation of IWRM applications in Egypt is carried out and the results are presented. Based on this study, it has been noted that major steps have still to be taken from technical, legal, and institutional aspects in order to arrive at efficiently functioning PIM and workable IWRM applications. The review and analysis provided in this paper are based on reports and data available until early 2006. For further developments and projects expansions, reader should refer to reports that are more recent. Keywords: Water Management; Participatory Irrigation Management; Management Transfer; Integrated Management; Water Boards

Transcript of INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PRACTICES … · INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT...

Page 1: INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PRACTICES … · INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN EGYPT, A CRITICAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS Sherif M. Abdelgawad1, Mohamed Nasr-ElDin

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INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN EGYPT, A CRITICAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

Sherif M. Abdelgawad1, Mohamed Nasr-ElDin Allam2 and Mohamed H. Elgamal3

1 Assistant Lecturer, Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering,

Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Professor, Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering,

Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] 3 Assistant Professor, Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering,

Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT The Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach has been widely adopted all over the world to manage the scarce water resources efficiently by integrating different sectors and fragmented policies within a national economic framework as well as adopting the demand-driven approach, whereby new technologies are utilized in the allocation and conservation of fresh water supplies. In addition to that, IWRM involves the water users in the management process, which is known as Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). In Egypt, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) aims at employing the PIM concept by increasing water users' participation in water management. This paper presents a review and analysis of IWRM applications in Egypt through several pilot projects at different levels starting from the tertiary level (mesqa level) up to the district level. Water Users' Associations (WUAs), Branch Canal Water Users Association (BCWUAs), Water Boards (WB's) are different projects initiated and tested by the MWRI. The Integrated Water Management District (IWMD) project is also reviewed and discussed in this study. The project's objective is to integrate all water management functions of the MWRI districts and develop a new organizational structure containing four main sections. Evaluation of IWRM applications in Egypt is carried out and the results are presented. Based on this study, it has been noted that major steps have still to be taken from technical, legal, and institutional aspects in order to arrive at efficiently functioning PIM and workable IWRM applications. The review and analysis provided in this paper are based on reports and data available until early 2006. For further developments and projects expansions, reader should refer to reports that are more recent. Keywords: Water Management; Participatory Irrigation Management; Management

Transfer; Integrated Management; Water Boards

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1. INTRODUCTION The rapid increase of population growth and its corresponding economic activities caused a reduction in the per capita share of the limited fresh water resources in many countries to a scarcity level as well as degradation of the water quality. The supply augmentation based management approach has not been adequate to solve the water shortage problems. The need for an integrated water resources management (IWRM) approach becomes essential. IWRM basic concept is mainly based on four pillars; integration of all available resources to satisfy the water uses, integration of water demand management and water conservation, control and management of water pollution, stakeholders and public participation in decision-making process and water management practices. Participation of stakeholders in water management is known as Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). The objective is to operate and maintain the canals and to mitigate the burdens on the governments. Another concept of water management is the Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) that allows the private sector to take managerial and financial control over operation and maintenance. IMT is expected to result in direct and immediate reductions in government expenditures, enhance the financial self-reliance of irrigation schemes, increase in the irrigation water efficiency that will reflects positively on the increase of cropping intensity and yields. In Egypt, the water scarcity challenges constitute a major problem that threatens the achievement of the country's development plans. The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) is endeavoring to practice the IWRM to meet the challenges of limited water resources, growing demand, degrading water quality because of increased municipal, industrial and agricultural pollution loads, low water use efficiency, inadequate finance, lack of effective stakeholders’ participation, and insufficient enforcement of laws. 1.1 Integrated Water Resources Management Concept Formerly, policy makers were driven to manage and supply water for their different uses. This stage was characterized by augmentation of supply only (Al Radif [1]). This approach is no longer adequate; therefore, the IWRM concept has been introduced. Figure (1) shows how the fresh water resources in the past were adequate for different uses and the functions of the fresh water ecosystems were undisturbed due to the low population growth rates. The core of IWRM approach is establishing a multi-disciplinary teams at various levels (local, regional, national, and international) to communicate different perspectives on water resources and the maintenance of ecosystem functioning. It also integrates the technological means, socio-economic aspects, environmental concerns, and health consideration as shown in Figure (2) (Al Radif [1]).

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Fig. 1 Main components of supply driven management (Al Radif [1])

Fig. 2 Integrated water resources management (Al Radif [1])

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IWRM aims to ensure that current demands for water are met without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Overall, it seeks to advance a country’s social and economic development goals in ways that do not compromise the sustainability of vital ecosystems (Imam [2]). 1.2 Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) Mazahreh et al. [3] proposed the question “Why participation?” Another question might also be asked: "Why the government should be involved in irrigation?" The concept of the PIM approach is that governments and farmers with comparative advantages should be united for one goal. When farmers are directly involved in the design process, they will provide useful design input and come with an understanding of the design logic of the system they will be managing. Different case studies show different experiences and reforms that need to take place to make it successful. Turkey began transferring management responsibility for large irrigation systems to locally controlled organization in 1993. About one million hectares of the publicly managed irrigation in the country were transferred to local governments or to Irrigation Associations (IAs) (approx. 6500 hectares) created at the local level. Svendsen and Nott [4] summarized the impacts of irrigation management transfer as follows:

• doubling of irrigation fee collection rates, • shifting of Operation and Maintenance (O&M) activities expenditure from the

public to the private sector, • an accumulation of reserves in some IAs for future capital purchases, • reduced wage bill for system O&M personnel, • number of farmers’ complaints has fallen dramatically.

Watanabe and Ogino [5] showed that the significance of decentralization is not only transferring of responsibility from government to farmers but also reorganizing the whole framework of irrigation institutes. Slama [6] summarized the benefits and returns of applying the participatory irrigation management as follows:

• reducing the financial and the institutional burdens on the government. • promoting economic use of water and the associated increase in productivity by

giving users the opportunity to: (i) appreciate the scarcity of water and cost of delivering water to the farm gate, and (ii) develop a sense of ownership and responsibility over the irrigation system.

• promoting sustainability by enabling water users to adapt the O&M practices to the requirements of their cropping patterns.

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2. PARTICIPATORY IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT In recent years, there has been a major shift towards a market-driven economy. Therefore, Egypt has endorsed privatization, which means less government involvement in terms of subsidies, expenditure, administration, etc. The MWRI policy is to increase water users’ participation in water management. Farmers’ participation at tertiary (mesqa), branch, secondary canals, wells and drains are considered by several projects and programs. Over the last three decades, the MWRI carried out several pilot projects for participatory irrigation management; namely; Water Users Associations (WUA), Water Users Unions (WUU), Branch Canal Water Users Associations (BCWUA) and Water Boards (WB). These pilot projects were formed with the support of ministerial decrees for testing the decentralization and users’ participation policies. Figure (3) shows the development of projects that related to the participatory irrigation management. 2.1 Irrigation Improvement Project (IIP) The Regional Irrigation Improvement Project (IIP), as a component of the USAID sponsored Irrigation Management System (IMS) project. Mesqas improvements (lining and pipelines) as well as WUAs were initiated in selected areas. The project had suggested two alternatives for mesqa improvement. WUAs were formed to enable effective management of the improvements and to ensure the project’s sustainability. 2.2 Water Users’ Associations (WUAS) WUAs established under the IIP serve as an excellent example of the effect of user involvement and cooperation on system management. When the user is involved in the management practices in early stage, he will accept the proposed improvements and will be able to operate and maintain the improved system easily afterwards. The main functions of water users' associations may be summarized as follows (Abdel-Aziz [7]):

• Participation in planning, design, and construction of improved mesqas. • Operation, maintenance, and follow-up of improved mesqas. • Improvement of water use and distribution at the mesqa level. • Identifying the responsibilities and setting up rules to resolve conflicts. • Linkages for coordination with agriculture and irrigation concerned agencies. • Development of financial resources of the association to improve O&M.

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Fig. 3 Development of Users’ Participation in Egypt (WBP [8]) 2.3 Branch Canal Water Users Associations (BCWUAS) MWRI has recognized that participation should be scaled up to higher level than the mesqa. The initial thoughts were to establish a federation of existing WUAs sharing one branch canal called (BCWUAs). The objective of BCWUAs is to represent a collective association of cultivators on a branch canal, and to liaise with the Irrigation

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Department of MWRI in all matters related to operation, maintenance, and management of the branch canal (Allam [9]). Four pilot branch canals, two in improved and two in the unimproved areas were selected. BCWUAs in unimproved areas should facilitate the process of WUAs establishment, whereas in the improved areas to strengthen the work of the existing WUAs and better align them with the irrigation department. A ministerial decree was issued in January 1999 to authorize the BCWUAs. The process to establish BCWUAs was to divide the canal into three reaches with a designated influential farmer for each reach who will nominate representatives for the executive council. The council may delegate the irrigation engineer as a member of the council. The council is responsible for all operational and managerial issues of the canal. 2.4 Fayoum Water Management Project (FWMP) Fayoum Water Management Project, sponsored by the Government of Netherlands, started in 1993. Eventually, the project support has shifted from technical interventions and infrastructural improvements towards institutional development to encourage farmer's participation in specific governmental water management tasks. Since 1995, a number of 32 pilot Water Boards (WBs) was initiated in Fayoum participating in irrigation and drainage activities. The project formed of a federation of water boards in order to improve water distribution for a larger command area. Figures (4 & 5) show the 32 WBs as well as the federation of 22 WBs. Allam [9] reviewed the activities of water boards which include joint planning and monitoring of construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance works executed by MWRI as well as execution of maintenance works by the WB. A major activity of WBs is weed control. By contract, WBs maintain the canals on a monthly basis. Not only is this method very efficient, it is also an excellent tool for the development of WBs as it is a recurring activity requiring planning, organization, and financial accountability (Allam [9]). The development of WBs has had positive effects on the water distribution within the secondary canal system. This is most notable from changes in cropping patterns. There is a marked decrease in the areas under fallow, especially during the summer seasons. Other major effects, though more difficult to quantify, are improved relations between engineers and farmers and diminishing conflicts between farmers in the area.

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Fig. 4 Existing 32 water boards in Fayoum

Fig. 5 Federation of 22 WBs in Fayoum 2.5 Water Boards Project (WBP) FWMP initiated the concept of PIM at the secondary level. Based on the experience gained from the FWMP, the Water Board Project (WBP), sponsored by the Government of Netherlands, started in 1999. The WBP established 10 WBs at secondary canal level, mainly in the Nile Delta region (Egyptian-Dutch Advisory Panel Project, APP, 2003). The WBP has formulated an organizational and legal framework for the operation of the WBs (i.e. draft amendment to the Law 12 of year 1984). The following activities have been successfully implemented by the WBP (WBP [10]):

• development of sustainable 10 Water Boards in pilot areas at secondary levels, • development of a training approach for ministry staff and WB committee

members on participatory water management, • development of monitoring system for nation-wide establishment of WBs, • definition of the role and functions of the ministry with respect to the

functioning of WBs after their establishment, • formulation of legislative amendments.

There are some Water Boards established by the FWMP and others established by the WBP. The total number of water boards, which have been established in Egypt until the end of 2002, is about 53 Water Boards, with a total command area of 151,000 feddans as shown in Figure (6).

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Fig. 6 Water boards locations in Egypt until 2002 (WBP [8]) 2.5.1 Role of Water Boards and the MWRI The WBs are user organizations that deal with government owned property. There are three models for the role that WBs can play in the irrigation water management: the Consultation Model, the Participatory Management Model, and the Transferred Management Model, (WBP [8]). In consultation model, WBs become consultative bodies with some executive functions as resolving internal conflicts, reporting violations, and act as a communication channel between users and the MWRI. The participatory model allows WBs to take over specific O&M functions from the MWRI that are formally agreed to be transferred to the WBs. In that model the WB can distribute the water among users, maintain the structures, control the weed and supervise mesqa construction. The transferred management model allows WBs to have full responsibility for water management and its financing with a minimum need for government control and guidance. WBs are free to undertake activities indirectly linked to the irrigation water

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management. This model requires the development of management organizations with all its management and technical capabilities. That is a long-term process requiring a sustained and high-level commitment from the users and the government. In general, the MWRI role is to supervise and monitor the implementation by the WBs. The MWRI plays an arbitration role when WB has a conflict with another WB or face internal conflicts. The MWRI also supervises elections of WBs committees and intervenes when WB committees fail to perform their duties satisfactory. 2.5.2 Water Boards Structure The WB would cover an area of about 1,000 to 15,000 feddans irrigated from branch canals and mesqas; it may also have drains or a branch drain. Therefore, the area that covered by a WB has a length that varies from five to 25 km. Number of farmers who live and farm in this area could range from 1,000 to 10,000 persons. The WB structure is mainly composed of three distinct interest groups; their number ranges between 50 and 100 representing what is called “General Assembly.” The Water Board members elect a group of them to represent the Executive Committee. The Water Board Chairman is elected by all members. Figure (7) shows the Water Board structure including all different representatives. On the Water Board level, the number of board representatives may reach 40 to 50 farmers who represent different mesqas, most of them are men, but in some places, women were elected to address the issues of dumping the garbage in canals and use the canals water for cleaning. Representatives for any industrial activities if any should be in the board. 2.5.3 Water Boards Sustainability Maintaining the organization sustainable for next generations, certain measures need to be considered. Capacity building programs like technical training and information management practices should be provided. Using the available resources effectively along with independent decision-making process are important pillars for a sustainable organization. The board should provide services to users according to their needs and benefits. Without being authorized by government and other authorities, water boards will not be able to function and carry out the duties. 2.5.4 Performance Evaluation of Water Boards FWMP conducted a case study to examine the performance of a WB established in 1994 and has performed for nearly seven years. Initially, the farmers were highly motivated, had participated actively in the water management activities, and received several training programs by the WBP and consequently the WB activities were completed in a sufficient manner. With time, the performance of the Water Board had declined gradually. The poor performance of the WB is caused by conflicts of interest between different stakeholders as well as the absence of the legal status that permits

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individual actions by farmers, this also results in the inability of the WB to solve any problems caused outside its own area. In addition, the absence of a financing mechanism for the Water Board threatens the sustainability of the Water Board.

Fig. 7 Water Board structure

(WBP, [8])

Fig. 8 Characteristics of sustainable organization (WBP, [8])

3. INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS In Egypt, the present management of water supplies and services within the MWRI is handled through line department directives and functions starting from the central ministry to lower line offices at the inspectorate and district levels. The district engineer focuses only on irrigation issues, and has little or no management coordination authority to integrate the other aspects of delivery and use, i.e. drainage, groundwater, pollution, and rainfall. The IWMD is an irrigation district that has sufficient work force, material, and fiscal resources to operate and maintain all water resources under its jurisdiction. The IWMD aims at integrating all water management functions including irrigation, drainage, and groundwater districts as well as reorganizing the internal functions and transferring authority to the local level. Districts are in general irrigation and drainage, whereas some are groundwater, and mechanical and electrical districts. Although, these different districts belong to the MWRI district, they have different boundaries. Pilot districts chosen have distinct boundaries with inflow and outflow points monitored with drainage and irrigation boundaries close to each other as possible and districts that use unconventional water resources. A pilot area should contain IIP components as well as functioning WUAs, in addition to one water board at least.

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Based on the above set of selection criteria, four pilot IWMDs have been established by a ministerial decrees, two in December 2001 and the remaining in June 2003. Pilot districts are South Zifta in the Menoufia Irrigation Directorate and the Ibrahimiya in the West Sharkia Directorate, Luxor and West Esna Irrigation Districts in Qena general Irrigation Directorate. Figure (9) shows the location of the pilot IWMDs.

Fig. 9 Location of Pilot Integrated Water Management District (RSC/WD, [11]) In the study in-hand, South Zifta IWMD is presented here as an example. South Zifta irrigation district has a command area of 42,360 feddans, while drainage has 31,871 feddans. The drainage district is responsible for O&M of open and tile drains that discharging into a major drain whose water is mixed with Abbasi Rayah fresh water. The district is using non-traditional water resources such as groundwater from nine wells scattered through the district and located at the tails of canals to compensate for the water shortage. The South Zifta groundwater district is a unit of the Mechanical and Electrical Department (MED) of the MWRI that controls well operations. The two figures below show that the irrigation district boundary does not change significantly after the IWMD, while the drainage district boundary has been changed significantly to match the irrigation district boundary as much as possible. The issues in the four selected pilot districts are common. Overlap of boundaries, lack of maintenance equipments, lack of computer facilities, and funding problems are vital

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issues. Each district (irrigation, drainage …) has its own staff and personnel aspects. Decision making process is centralized as in most decisions; the district engineer refers to the general director. In O&M, and rehabilitation of structures, the district engineer prioritizes the tasks whereas the general director takes the action. Furthermore, there is no monitoring of the water quality in drains. The quantity and quality of pumped groundwater as well as the piezometric level are not monitored.

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Fig. 10 South Zifta irrigation district before and after IWMD

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3.1 Organizational Structure of IWMD The IWMD organizational structure consists of four sections: water management and distribution, maintenance, planning and follow-up, and administration sections. The District “Markaz” officer heads the sections and is supervised by the general director. Therefore, there is no need for the irrigation inspectorate. The IWMD organizational structure and work force of each section of IWMD are illustrated in Figure (12).

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Fig. 12 Proposed Divisions and Roles within an IWMD (APRP [12]) 3.2 Data Flow between IWMDs and MWRI Departments In general, data flows back and forth from districts to their respective inspectorates and then forwarded to general directorates. This classical data flow and decision making is central. The newly established IWMDs have the authority to make district-level management decisions. Figure (13) shows how anticipated future data/information will flow from/to the district, and within the district.

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Fig. 13 Future Data/Information Flow (RSC/WD [11]) In order to improve the performance of the district, a computer database should be developed. Computers were provided to the district, and basic training courses were carried out. The training included a basic computer operation, use of spreadsheets for data processing including data entry, data analysis, and performing calculations. In addition, four training courses were implemented to develop the technical, managerial, and O&M skills needed to operate the IWMDs. 3.3 Administrative Status of IWMD The administrative issues existing in the present IWMDs may be summarized as follows (RSC/WD [13]):

• Impact of IWMD on the structure and responsibilities of other MWRI departments still constitutes a major problem,

• Decision making process within district has not been defined,

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• Personnel management needs further consideration, • IWMD is still lacking financial and budget management, • Facilities, offices, and transportation need further improvement.

3.4 Water Management Status of IWMD There is discrepancy between Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) and MWRI estimates for irrigation demands due to the cropping pattern liberalization policy. On the IWMD scale, a numerical model called (MISD) has been adapted by the MWRI jointly with MARL to provide real-time information on the demand of the irrigation district biweekly. The IWMD engineers were taught to collect the meteorological data to estimate the crop water requirements. The IWMD district staff in the four districts is now capable of preparing annual, seasonal, and biweekly water management and distribution plans. 3.5 Maintenance Activities of IWMD Traditionally, the directorate is primarily responsible for major maintenance work by employing contractors for dredging and de-weeding. For minor maintaincae, Bahari (unskilled labor) from districts are required to clean trash racks in the canal system several times daily to remove weeds. Drainage directorate is responsible for maintenance of open and tile drains through contractors. The MED is responsible for maintaining the pump stations and electrical high voltage transmission lines. Under IWMD, these different activities of maintenance, except large pump stations, have been integrated under one section—the maintenance section in the IWMD. Training for the IWMD staff were made to make them acquainted with maintenance aspects of canals, drains, and mechanical maintenance of pumps and equipment. Training helped the IWMD maintenance staff to set an integrated maintenance plan for canals and drains. Maintenance of small pumping stations has been proposed to be transferred to the IWMD through an agreement between MED and Irrigation Directorate. 4. CONCLUSIONS There is overlap and duplication among the different participatory management initiative projects. The introduced policies and concepts have not been effectively coordinated or linked to each other, this may be due to the different nature of these programs as most of which are focusing on few issues and designed in a way that they cannot easily be linked to each other (APRP [14]). Coordination of efforts could save time and money. This coordination may be managed through the already existing steering committee in MWRI, which is responsible for coordinating the donors programs and activities.

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User Organizations at mesqa level will not be effective to relieve the government's burden, as the governments already has not involved at that level. The level of water users’ participation remains limited. The average size of a branch canal command area is about 8,000-10,000 feddans. Most of the user organizations still are not functioning, as intended as they do not have a legal status, and no clear strategy exists regarding their long-term financing. MWRI drafted an amendment of the irrigation Law No. 12 to provide the required legal basis. The proposed revision is still under review by the Cabinet to be submitted to the People Assembly (Allam [9]). The delay in amending and issuing law No. 12 will result in absence of clear and complete evaluation and assessment of the pilot projects because the roles and functions of the water organizations are not performed in the desired way. Different participatory irrigation management models are needed to reflect the essential differences between old land, new land, and mega projects. These models could be different in the level of participation, stakeholders, and financing sources and mechanisms. PIM organizations should not be governmental but private, and should be self financing and responsible for the O&M of their systems. There is a resistance to modify the irrigation and drainage districts to coincide with each other. The role of existing Water Boards or branch canal water users associations (if any) in the district should be clarified in the IWMD. There is no clear financial and budget mechanism for the IWMDs. The implementation of IWMDs will have significant impact on the structure and responsibilities of other MWRI departments at different levels. The number of staff and their responsibilities will be different from district to district according to the existing irrigation and drainage system. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS There is still much to be done in the studied subject. The following recommendations for future works are listed as follows:

• More monitoring and evaluation studies should be developed to provide an assessment of the actual situation of pilot projects and to state if it is going in the right direction not, it is feasible or not, and to suggest ways and means of amending their performance.

• Study on scaling up the PIM to higher levels should be implemented to determine the appropriate level of participation and its effect on the hierarchical structure of the departments of the Ministry.

• The financial management and revenue generation in the water users' organizations should be studied.

• The effect of imposing irrigation fees on farmers by the water users' organizations should be discussed.

• The role of IWMDs in managing water resources at the district level in the existence of WBs or BCWUAs should be discussed.

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• The social consideration regarding the transfer of water management tasks to private sector at different levels should be discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research could not have been accomplished without the splendid support by different projects staff and engineers. To all of them, I extend my sincere thanks for providing information, reports and organizing field visits that helped to finish this work. REFERENCES [1] Al Radif, A., Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): an approach

to face the challenges of the next century and to avert future crises, Desalination, Vol. 124, Issues 1-3, Pages 145-153, November 1999.

[2] Imam, E., Holistic Approach to Water Resources Management, A World Bank Final Report on Stock-taking of the policies and practice of IWRM in Egypt, 2004.

[3] Mazahreh, N., Shatanawi, M., and Ghezawi, S., Jordan Experiences In Water Saving and Participatory Irrigation Management, Workshop on Participatory Water Saving Management and Water Cultural Heritage, Options Méditerranéennes, Série B No. 48, Turkey, 2003.

[4] Svendsen, M., and Nott, G., Irrigation Management Transfer in Turkey: Process and outcomes, Case studies in participatory irrigation management. Eds. D. Groenfeldt and M. Svendsen. Washington DC: World Bank Institute, 1999.

[5] Watanabe, T., and Ogino, Y., Role of District-level Organization in Decentralized Arrangement of Irrigation Management - Lessons from Land Improvement District in Japan, Forum on Decentralization and Participatory Irrigation Management, Cairo, Egypt, 2003.

[6] Slama, A., IFAD Experience in Participatory Irrigation Management in the NENA Region, Forum on Decentralization and Participatory Irrigation Management, Cairo, Egypt, 2003.

[7] Abdel-Aziz, Y., Decentralization and participatory irrigation management in Egypt, Water Demand Management Forum on Decentralization and Participatory Irrigation Management, 2003.

[8] WBP (2002). “A Broad Base for Water Boards”, Proceedings of the National Conference on Water Boards, Ain Sokhna, Egypt, 2002.

[9] Allam, M.N., Participatory Irrigation Water Management in Egypt: Review and Analysis, Workshop on Participatory Water Saving Management and Water Cultural Heritage, Options Méditerranéennes, Série B No. 48, Turkey, 2003.

[10] WBP (2001), Workshop on Qemry and Bahr Elderham Water Boards, Cairo, Egypt, 2001.

[11] RSC/WD (2004b), Final Report incorporating Quarterly Report No. 4 for the period July–September 2004”, Improved Water Management Component, Red

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Sea Sustainable Development and Improved Water Resources Management, September 2004.

[12] APRP (2001a), Integrated Water Management District, Agricultural Policy Reform Program – Water Policy Activity, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Report No. 49, December 2001.

[13] RSC/WD (2004a), District Consolidation Activity in Integrated Water Management Districts, Improved Water Management Component, Red Sea Sustainable Development and Improved Water Resources Management, September 2004.

[14] APRP (2002a), Integrated Water Management District: MWRI Plan for Pilot Implementation, Agricultural Policy Reform Program – Water Policy Activity, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Report No. 62, September 2002.