CERTIFICATION OF GOOD WATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR WATER USER ASSOCIATIONS

Abstract

The Water User Associations (OUA) are private and autonomous non-profit entities in charge distributing the water of their associates. Among these are the “Juntas de Vigilancia”, “Asociaciones de Canalistas“ y “Comunidades de aguas”.  Within the framework of the water management processes carried out by these organizations, there are some weaknesses that affect the results of such management. As the only provider of water management and distribution services for their members, they can´t certificate the compliance with management and transparency standards.

The certification of water management practices contribute to addressing the problems described above. For this reason, a system for certifying good water management practices was developed for AUOs and two of them were certified.

The first step was to identify practices that contribute to water security from the point of view of quantity, quality and sustainability, based on data collection in OAU. Also it was made a review of documents in another institutions. Then, the certification system was designed based on information from the literature and workshops. Finally, certification was applied to two OUAs in the Elqui River basin.

Seventeen good water management practices were identified, grouped into five dimensions of the activities of the AUOs, which made it possible to structure a certification system with regulations and support instruments. The two AUOs that underwent certification achieved accreditation of their performance, at different levels, but in accordance with the standard.