Social aspects influencing water management in the Lemos Valley irrigation district, Spain

Abstract

The new scenario of water policy favoured by the European Union Directive establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, and by the National Irrigation Plan in Spain, requires sustainable and integrated management of water resources. A total of 119 farmers were surveyed in order to implement a management model in the Lemos Valley District, where irrigation plays a main role. The survey provides a sample of representative farms, from which real-time updated information can be obtained. This information can be used as the basis for decision-making during the process of implementation and development of the management model. In the study area, farms are small and show a high fragmentation level. Moreover, the farmers who in charge of them are old. The state of distribution network forces farmers to abandon irrigation because they lack motivation to irrigate. Therefore, irrigation rehabilitation must be accompanied by socio-economic profile and by technical measures that allow rehabilitation to be undertaken.

Social and irrigation water management issues in some water user’s associations of the Low Segura River Valley (Alicante, Spain)

“…In the evaluation of social and technical aspects relative to irrigated land operations, the survey to farmers has successfully been used in our country by Alvarez et al [8], Neira et al [9] and Cuesta et al [10]. Also Tanaka and Sato [7] analyze the behaviour in irrigation water management of Japanese WUAs by means of surveys to presidents and personnel of the WUAs.…”

A multimetric model to assess the biological quality of the Cabe River, NW Spain

“…Demographically, the study area is characterized by continuous population decline and by highly scattered population, as most of inland Galicia. Monforte de Lemos concentrates the population migrated from rural areas (Cuesta et al ., ). Most of the population are engaged almost exclusively in agriculture and farming, whereas manufacturing is scarcely developed, and the service sector concentrates in the most important towns.…”

“…In 1966, the colonization of the Lemos Valley irrigation district was declared to be of great national interest (Cuesta et al ., ). As a result, irrigation development was implemented in 5300 ha of five municipalities of the southern part of the province of Lugo, NW Spain, by using run‐of‐river flows from the Cabe River and regulated water from Vilasouto dam in river Mao.…”

Participation of farmers in irrigation water management in Indonesia: a review

“…The participation of farmers in IWM may be expected to play a limited role in planning, construction and rehabilitation. The involvement of farmers in the rehabilitation of water infrastructure must be accompanied by the socio‐economic profiles and technical measures that allow the rehabilitation to be undertaken (Cuesta et al , ). Some WUAs in Peru have taken the initiative on their own to develop their leadership skills, to strengthen technical and administrative personnel, and to assure the active participation of users (Huamanchumo et al , ).…”

“…The data collected from 270 farmers to assess the INSM performance at the Doroodzan Dam of Fars province, Iran, have been evaluated based on multi-stage stratified random sampling (Khalkheili and Zamani, 2009). The socio-economic profiles and technical measures can affect the rehabilitation process of most irrigation structures (Cuesta et al, 2005). Guidance and technical assistance may influence the participation of farmers in WRM (Bekele and Tilahun, 2006;Bhatta et al, 2006).…”