Chennat Gopalakrishnan, Cecilia Tortajada and Asit K. Biswas. Water Institutions: Policies, Performance and Prospects.

Chennat Gopalakrishnan, Cecilia Tortajada and Asit K. Biswas. Water Institutions: Policies, Performance and Prospects. Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 2005, 200 pp., $129.

This book is somewhat uneven since each chapter is written by different individuals. It starts out with a very broad definition of institutions that combines management of water organizations with the more traditional definition of institutions that includes laws, rules, regulations, and the cultural and political setting. The problem is that not all chapters use this same definition of institutions, which means the reader must be careful and determine which definition is being used. Some of the chapters give a broad overview of a country's water institutions and/or organizations while others focus on specific institutions or organizations, such as the prior appropriation doctrine as applied in the western United States or Sri Lanka's National Water Supply and Drainage Board. Each chapter raises important policy and research questions that need to be addressed as the editor of the book states: "studies and analyses of water institutions have been a neglected subject in the past" (p. v). Part of the reason for this neglect may be the political sensitivity of the topics that are raised by serious studies of organizations managing water and the institutions that help determine who captures the rents. To highlight these issues the book needs a concluding chapter to pull together the different ideas and strategies suggested by the various authors.

In chapter 1, Gopalakrishan introduces the physical concept of entropy and describes how he will use it to evaluate institutions. He argues that institutions become dysfunctional when entropy intrudes. Four constraints are identified that cause institutional entropy: (1) lack of flexibility, (2) poor access to information, (3) lack of autonomy, and (4) failure to incorporate local customs and concerns. The chapter describes and evaluates Hawaii's water laws, political processes, and water administration. Although the findings and recommendations are quite reasonable, the chapter would have been stronger if it had included data and analysis to support the conclusions regarding past performance of the state water commission.

In chapter 2, Biswas focuses on Sri Lanka's National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) and its performance in water and wastewater management in towns east and south of Colombo. The analysis begins with a review of the roles public and private sector organizations can play in managing water resources, with an emphasis on the potential for expanding private sector involvement. This is followed by a discussion of Sri Lanka's National Water Policy and NWSDB's performance. One of the strengths of the chapter is the discussion of water charges and the political problems involved in raising them. The chapter concludes with estimates of potential cost savings and revenue increases from greater private sector involvement in NWSDB's water management activities.

Saleth, in chapter 3, focuses on three components of the book's overly broad definition of institutions--water law, policy, and administration. With the states having jurisdiction over water within their borders, the central government is unable to provide the guidance needed to reform the country's water institutions. Only some of the more microlevel institutions are responding to the changing water conditions as several states have been improving their water rights by granting water leases and water passes. Still he argues India has yet to embark on any serious reform that would need to include (1) review of the center-states relationship, (2) development of a country-level water law, (3) development of water rights, and (4) real administrative reform with staff downsizing. Such institutional reform is badly needed to provide constraints and guidance for both the public and private sectors as they manage water and its allocation in this rapidly changing society.

Again, chapter 4 provides a good overview of the water institutions and the development of irrigation in China. Nickum is less ambitious than Saleth and focuses primarily on irrigation districts where he finds internal and external inertia so high that institutional change seems almost intractable. Irrigation districts cover about 45 percent of China's effectively irrigated area. Of the medium and large reservoirs serving irrigation districts, nearly one-third were built in the two years of the Great Leap Forward (1958-60) and were often of dubious quality. Between 1965 and 1975, the total irrigation area increased by half, primarily due to tube well irrigation and the over-drafting of groundwater, which helped set the stage for reform starting in the mid-1990s. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the successes and weaknesses of the project to introduce water user associations (WUAs) and water supply corporations into the Yangtze River Basin as a way to reform and improve water management.

Chapter 5 is another instructive review of a country's water institutions. The authors present a revealing description of the environment in Mexico in which river basin management evolved starting in the 1940s. They provide a thoughtful discussion of how political priorities and budgets changed over time and how this altered Mexico's river basin management and development activities. The discussion focuses on five of the seven river basin commissions ranging from the Fuente in the northwest to the Grijalva in the south. The authors conclude that the river basin commissions have only accomplished minor improvements in the distribution of economic activity and regional development.

After three strong chapters providing new insights into contrasting water institutions, Beaumont takes on the daunting task of appraising the water institutions and organizations of five Middle Eastern countries: Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. Key findings in the five countries include: (1) Iran's water institutions incorporate elements from ancient customary law but the majority are based on a broad interpretation of Islamic law that allows private ownership and water trading along with recognizing water as a public good, (2) Saudi Arabia has altered its water policy for irrigation from one focused on food self-sufficiency before 1994, to one embracing a more sustainable use of its groundwater, (3) Israel, very early on, became committed to widespread irrigation development and settlement that was not changed until the 1990s when it became clear that such a policy was not sustainable, (4) in Jordan, too many parts of the government have a role in water management partly because water has been identified as a key constraint to development, and (5) Turkey used a very centralized approach to water development and management until the 1990s when it began to turn over operations and management of irrigation to the water users.

Chapter 7 is mostly about the political interaction among countries clustered around international rivers used by South Africa. The authors point out that growing security concerns during the Apartheid-era in South Africa meant that water management on international rivers became closely tied to security. Thus, international agreements involving water use and development on these rivers were used as a tool to encourage neighboring countries to cooperate with South Africa. Cooperation became important for security reasons. The authors conclude that the resulting water management institutions for transboundary river basins have had a positive impact on South Africa's economic revitalization in the post-Apartheid era.

The last two chapters provide a good overview of water rights in the western U.S. Chuck Howe, in chapter 8, starts with a discussion of the evolution of water rights in the western United States and how water markets were allowed to develop. He goes on to discuss how the range of "public values" for water have been expanding but that more is needed to protect water quality, ecosystem values, and the local economic base in water transfers.

Professor Huffaker concludes the book with a chapter that provides an excellent assessment of the prior appropriations doctrine as applied in the western United States. He finds that increased irrigation efficiency has allowed irrigators to increase their consumptive use of water to the detriment of both instream uses and downstream users. He argues that the prior appropriation doctrine needs to be more flexible and strictly enforced by (1) limiting transfers to the quantity of water consumptively used, (2) eliminating outright restrictions on water transfers outside of agriculture, (3) removing the use-it-or-lose-it requirement and, (4) improving the procedures for approving water transfers.

This book should be an important source book for those interested in international water institutions and water management. As the book clearly illustrates, major changes are badly needed in water institutions and organizations if we are to meet our growing water demands for food, people, and the environment. To help developing countries meet this challenge, developed countries and international organizations will need to invest more time and money on these institutional issues.

K. William Easter

University of Minnesota