Expansión del regadío tradicional y control local en la Real Acequia de Moncada

Abstract

Resumen. Son numerosos los ejemplos de sistemas de riego que han sido capaces de auto-gestionar el agua como un recurso comunal a largo plazo y en condiciones de marcada escasez, entre ellos el de la Comunidad de Regantes de la Real Acequia de Moncada (RAM), con 5000 ha y 13000 propietarios que gestionan de forma colectiva los recursos hídricos del río Turia. Ostrom (1990), basándose en el caso de la Huerta de Valencia, propuso varios principios asociados al éxito de la gestión comunal. El objetivo de este trabajo es revisar dos de ellos (a) la existencia de límites claramente definidos y (b) la capacidad de los usuarios de modificar las normas de operación, para el caso de la RAM, basándonos en la consulta de archivos históricos. Los resultados muestran que, pese a que el espacio regado no ha permanecido totalmente constante, sí que han existido unos límites prefijados que han permitido mantener una relación entre tierra regable y disponibilidad de recursos que se ha adaptado a las necesidades de los usuarios y donde es destacable la importancia de la gestión y toma de decisiones a escala local.Palabras clave: riego, gestión colectiva, expansión del riego, derechos de riego, extremal.Abstract. There are wide arrays of examples of irrigation systems that have been able to self-manage water as a common resource in the long term and in severe scarcity conditions. One of them is the Real Acequia de Moncada (RAM) Irrigators Community, with 5000 ha and 13000 owners who collectively manage water resources from the Turia River. Ostrom (1990), based in the case of the Huerta of Valencia, proposed several principles associated to the success of collective management. The objective of this work is to analyze two of them for the case of the RAM, (a) the presence of clearly defined boundaries and (b) capacity of users to modify operational rules. We contrast these principles with the information of historical archives. We show that limits have existed, allowing maintaining a relation between irrigated land and resources, and adapting to users' needs. Local management and decision making has been also of remarkable importance.

Collective management of irrigation in eastern Spain. Integration of new technologies and water resources.

“…Besides, the importance of town councils in local irrigation management was significant during the 19th century in most Spanish canals (Garrido, 2014). In the case of the Real Acequia de Moncada, farmer's representatives in the Governing Board were the mayors or other members of the town councils, who represented local agricultural elites (Sales- Martínez et al, 2014). Therefore, the excessive idealization of a high degree of autonomy of irrigation institutions needs to be carefully considered (Peris-Albentosa, 2014b).…”

“…Furthermore, the system is based on the existence of lands with priority rights (permanently irrigated lands in Table1.1) and lands with rights to surplus water only (extremales in Table1.1). This arrangement provides the possibility to adapt water management to the irregularity of Mediterranean rivers, and to control the impact of drought by ensuring a minimum quantity of water needed for the viability of crops (Garrido, 2012;Sales-Martínez et al, 2014).…”