IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v28y2014i4p1079-1094.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Comparison of Water Policies for Sustainable Irrigation Management: The Case of India and Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Rajendra Poddar
  • M. Qureshi
  • Tian Shi

Abstract

A comparative analysis of irrigation related issues and effectiveness of water policies in India and Australia is conducted to help share the learning from each other’s experience in sustainable irrigation management. Keeping in pace with the global trend of implementing a sustainable water management program, India has adopted the concept of participatory irrigation management (PIM) while Australia has adopted irrigation management transfer (IMT) program. PIM in India is regarded as experimentation in diverse socio-economic settings with mixed results while IMT in Australia has achieved a high level of water use efficiency. Australian irrigation industry is currently driven by market mechanisms where water trading is expected to lead to greater efficiency. However, there are concerns that sole reliance on water use (or economic) efficiency objective may conflict with the objectives of social equity and ecological sustainability. Similar to Australia, there is an opportunity for water markets in India. However, conflict in the objectives of efficiency, equity and sustainability constrain the debate of establishing water markets in India. The comparative analysis indicates that despite both countries have a common goal of sustainable water management, their strategies differ. Nevertheless, India can emulate many of the Australian experiences in water policy reforms, entitlements, institutional arrangements, and corporate style of management while Australia can adopt the best Indian traditions of decentralized participatory and community management for sustainable irrigation water management. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Rajendra Poddar & M. Qureshi & Tian Shi, 2014. "A Comparison of Water Policies for Sustainable Irrigation Management: The Case of India and Australia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(4), pages 1079-1094, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:4:p:1079-1094
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-014-0535-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-014-0535-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-014-0535-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atul Singh & A. Sikka & A. Upadhyaya & P. Bhatnagar & S. Dhanphule & M. Singh & S. Singh, 2008. "Scientific Perceptions and Community Responses in a Participatory Water Management Endeavor," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(9), pages 1173-1189, September.
    2. Edwyna Harris, 2011. "The Impact of Institutional Path Dependence on Water Market Efficiency in Victoria, Australia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 4069-4080, December.
    3. Qureshi, M. Ejaz & Shi, Tian & Qureshi, Sumaira E. & Proctor, Wendy, 2009. "Removing barriers to facilitate efficient water markets in the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1641-1651, November.
    4. Turral, Hugh & Fullagar, I., 2007. "Institutional directions in groundwater management in Australia," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Turral, Hugh & Fullagar, I., 2007. "Institutional directions in groundwater management in Australia," IWMI Books, Reports H040053, International Water Management Institute.
    6. Ejaz Qureshi, M. & Hanjra, Munir A. & Ward, John, 2013. "Impact of water scarcity in Australia on global food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 136-145.
    7. Unknown, 2001. "Proceedings of an International Workshop held in Bangkok, Thailand 8 – 9 June 2001: Water Policy Reform: Lessons from Asia and Australia," ACIAR Proceedings Series 135378, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
    8. Gandhi, Vasant P. & N V Namboodiri, 2009. "Groundwater Irrigation in India: Gains, Costs and Risks," IIMA Working Papers WP2009-03-08, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    9. Giordano, Mark & Villholth, Karen, 2007. "The agricultural groundwater revolution: opportunities and threats to development," IWMI Books, Reports H040039, International Water Management Institute.
    10. Bauer, Carl J., 1997. "Bringing water markets down to earth: The political economy of water rights in Chile, 1976-1995," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 639-656, May.
    11. Shi, Tian, 2006. "Simplifying complexity: Rationalising water entitlements in the Southern Connected River Murray System, Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 229-239, December.
    12. Crase, Lin & O'Reilly, Leo & Dollery, Brian, 2000. "Water markets as a vehicle for water reform: the case of New South Wales," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 44(2), pages 1-23.
    13. Bela Bhatia, 1992. "Lush Fields and Parched Throats: The Political Economy of Groundwater in Gujarat," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1992-100, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Manju, S. & Sagar, Netramani, 2017. "Renewable energy integrated desalination: A sustainable solution to overcome future fresh-water scarcity in India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 594-609.
    2. Palomo-Hierro, Sara & Loch, Adam & Pérez-Blanco, C. Dionisio, 2022. "Improving water markets in Spain: Lesson-drawing from the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    3. J. Alarcón & L. Juana, 2016. "The Water Markets as Effective Tools of Managing Water Shortages in an Irrigation District," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(8), pages 2611-2625, June.
    4. Álvaro-Francisco Morote & Jorge Olcina & Antonio-Manuel Rico, 2017. "Challenges and Proposals for Socio-Ecological Sustainability of the Tagus–Segura Aqueduct (Spain) under Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-24, November.
    5. Pennan Chinnasamy & Govindasamy Agoramoorthy, 2015. "Groundwater Storage and Depletion Trends in Tamil Nadu State, India," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(7), pages 2139-2152, May.
    6. Cuimei Lv & Huiqin Li & Minhua Ling & Xi Guo & Zening Wu & Changkuan Gu & Yang Li, 2021. "An Innovative Emergy Quantification Method for Eco-economic Compensation for Agricultural Water Rights Trading," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(3), pages 775-792, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philippus Wester & Jaime Hoogesteger & Linden Vincent, 2009. "Local IWRM organizations for groundwater regulation: The experiences of the Aquifer Management Councils (COTAS) in Guanajuato, Mexico," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(1), pages 29-38, February.
    2. Charles Nevill, 2009. "Managing Cumulative Impacts: Groundwater Reform in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(13), pages 2605-2631, October.
    3. Martínez-Santos, P. & Martínez-Alfaro, P.E., 2010. "Estimating groundwater withdrawals in areas of intensive agricultural pumping in central Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 172-181, December.
    4. Brooks, Robert & Harris, Edwyna, 2008. "Efficiency gains from water markets: Empirical analysis of Watermove in Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(4), pages 391-399, April.
    5. Agbola, Frank W. & Evans, Nigel, 2012. "Modelling rice and cotton acreage response in the Murray Darling Basin in Australia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 74-82.
    6. Shi, Tian, 2006. "Simplifying complexity: Rationalising water entitlements in the Southern Connected River Murray System, Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 229-239, December.
    7. Speelman, Stijn & Veettil, Prakashan Chellattan, 2013. "Heterogeneous preferences for water rights reforms among smallholder irrigators in South Africa," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 2(2), pages 1-19, August.
    8. Speelman, Stijn & Veettil, Prakashan Chellatan, 2012. "Comparing the scope for irrigation water rights reforms in India and South Africa," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126731, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Edwyna Harris, 2011. "The Impact of Institutional Path Dependence on Water Market Efficiency in Victoria, Australia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 4069-4080, December.
    10. Jayanath Ananda & Mohamed Aheeyar, 2020. "An evaluation of groundwater institutions in India: a property rights perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 5731-5749, August.
    11. Mohammad Alauddin & Upali A. Amarasinghe & Bharat R. Sharma, 2014. "Four decades of rice water productivity in Bangladesh: A spatio-temporal analysis of district level panel data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 51-64.
    12. Stergios Athanassoglou & Glenn Sheriff & Tobias Siegfried & Woonghee Huh, 2012. "Optimal Mechanisms for Heterogeneous Multi-Cell Aquifers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(2), pages 265-291, June.
    13. Buchholz, Matthias & Musshoff, Oliver, 2014. "The role of weather derivatives and portfolio effects in agricultural water management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 34-44.
    14. Narain, V., 2009. "Water rights system as a demand management option: potentials, constraints and prospects," IWMI Books, Reports H042163, International Water Management Institute.
    15. Linda Steinhübel & Johannes Wegmann & Oliver Mußhoff, 2020. "Digging deep and running dry—the adoption of borewell technology in the face of climate change and urbanization," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(5), pages 685-706, September.
    16. Jayaraman, Rajshri & Lanjouw, Peter, 1999. "The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 14(1), pages 1-30, February.
    17. Zhang, Lijuan & Wang, Jinxia & Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott, 2008. "Development of Groundwater Markets in China: A Glimpse into Progress to Date," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 706-726, April.
    18. Figureau, A.-G. & Montginoul, M. & Rinaudo, J.-D., 2015. "Policy instruments for decentralized management of agricultural groundwater abstraction: A participatory evaluation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 147-157.
    19. Aggarwal, Rimjhim M. & Narayan, Tulika A., 2004. "Does inequality lead to greater efficiency in the use of local commons? The role of strategic investments in capacity," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 163-182, January.
    20. Villholth, Karen, 2015. "Groundwater for food production and livelihoods - the nexus with climate change and transboundary water management," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:4:p:1079-1094. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.