Water Governance Transition of Zayandeh-Roud Basin with emphasis on the Effectiveness of Coordination Council of IWRM and Towards Fit-For-Purpose Water Governance System

Feb 2020-June 2021

Isfahan Regional Water Company, Ministry of Energy

Abstract

The water crisis ranks among the top five global risks in terms of the severity of impact over the next ten years. Iran is also currently experiencing severe water problems. One of these challenging issues is related to the Zayandeh Rud River, the principal river of the central plateau in Iran; the river used to have significant flow all year long and today has become temporarily dry due to severe physical water scarcity. Despite several inter-basin water transfers to this Basin, intense cross-sectoral and inter-regional competition for a more significant share of the river's water resources has led to overexploitation and the subsequent polarisation, tensions, and conflicts among stakeholders. This research aims to assess the coordination mechanisms in the structure and process of water governance in the Zayandeh Rud basin, focusing on the Zayandeh Rud Basin Coordination Commission for Integrated Water Resources Management (ZCC-IWRM) using a diagnostic and interdisciplinary approach. The results revealed that the main achievements of ZCC-IWRM as the most critical coordination mechanism in the Basin were the limitation of new water-use licenses as well as the active involvement of a farmers' representative in high-level water management for the first time.
Nevertheless, the main challenges, like conflicts over water rights, have largely been left unaddressed. A significant problem facing ZCC-IWRM was the failure to implement policies and the need for more enforcement of regulations. The agenda of the ZCC-IWRM was more focused on the reservoir release schedule, with more minor achievements in controlling surface and groundwater water abstraction. In a nutshell, the ZCC-IWRM performance was somewhat successful, given that it was Iran's first experience with a river basin organization with more stakeholder engagement. Additionally, there is no one-size-fits-all model in IWRM, and capacity building for implementation can only be accomplished by trial and error. The most significant factors impeding the ZCC-IWRM's success were the conflict between hierarchical, network, and market governance modes at the regional and local levels, the high degree of policy incoherence resulting from Iran's five-year development plans, and premature load bearing of external interventions, and political promises to revive the river. The problem concerning the lack of institutional capacity in the water sector can hardly be solved within the water sector alone and requires digging deeper into societal circumstances and political causes. There needs to be more than the mere existence of collective decision-making entities for addressing coordination deficits. Instead, the enabling environment for stakeholder involvement, information exchange, and the presence of diversified coordination mechanisms are of paramount importance. There is no universal solution to overcome a lack of institutional capacity to achieve good governance, and no solution is usually known before implementation. There are no quick fixes for how to improve the state's capacity to accomplish increasingly complex and controversial tasks in the Basin. To avoid falling into the capabilities trap and alleviate growing ambiguity, we recommend that we begin by diagnosing and identifying the problem rather than searching for the best possible solution. Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) is an iterative process for tackling problems by identifying their root causes, identifying entry points, searching for plausible solutions, acting, reflecting on experiences, adapting, and then acting again.

Keywords: River basin organization, Synergy between governance modes, Policy incoherence Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation, Socio-political-economic context.