NEW PLAN TO FORM WATER USER GROUP TO MANAGE IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE IN ASPAS PLAIN, FARS PROVINCE

摘要

It is important to enable the local communities to cooperate in maintaining and utilizing the hydraulic installations. Though there have been some efforts towards this, but examination of some international projects that did not fit well to the local socio-economic conditions revealed that they had only eight percent success in terms of fulfilling their objectives and those projects, which lacked community participation from the first step had no success at all. The emphasis in this article is that the management is successful to protect water and soil sources when the water user groups are present in all steps of the programming and its execution until the end. It is necessary to have a well-defined framework and new regulations without referring to the government in order to form promising water beneficiary organizations comprising members keen to participate voluntarily. Such a frame work can be constituted when the field problems are studied well by the water use groups. It is obligatory to pay attention to all farmers’ concerns and problems in order to have their cooperation because they are the final beneficiaries of irrigation and drainage and mal-functioning of the system will affect them first. This article discusses the proper plan of formation of water user groups to protect and maintain the irrigation and drainage systems in Aspas plain, North of Fars province in Iran.