Session 10. 10. A.

This study challenges the prevailing institutional approach to water users associations (WUAs) in China by examining diverse organizational modalities of irrigation management in GC town in the southern part of Shandong province. GC town is a lead grain-producing township that grows wheat and rice across seasons with conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater. The surge of well irrigation, driven by agricultural mechanization, state-backed projects and climate change, has diminished its collective action on irrigation commons. Contrary to top-down institutional planning, this study reveals three distinct models of grassroots irrigation management in three villages, respectively: bureaucratic, self-governing and self-dependent. In YHM village, the ownership and management of government-funded electromechanical wells were converted from the WUAs to the Water Station office under political imperatives. This bureaucratic approach, prevalent in the township, relies on government staff for water fee collection and infrastructure maintenance. XF village, with insufficient surface water in the downstream, has independently built private wells that are managed by local plumbers for the convenience of mechanized irrigation, demonstrating a self-governing model. MW village, without government support, exhibits a self-dependent model, where villagers use various strategies to navigate water access in a less organized way, including private tubewell construction and pump irrigation using their diesel engines. The findings challenge neo-institutional policy prescriptions on cooperation alien from rural society, revealing a complex interplay of traditional and modern, formal and informal, and governmental and folk practices that sustain agricultural production and irrigation management. This context-sensitive analysis underscores the importance of understanding local dynamics in grassroots irrigation management in rural China.

Rural and urban water conservation research in India
Most water conservation research in India continues to focus on rural practices, notwithstanding the rapid pace of urbanisation. We thus proceed from rural conservation practices to those connected with urban development.
Watershed conservation. Rural water conservation programmes are linked in part with forest and pastoral land management and associated fields of applied vegetation and soil science. Search results reflected the fact that watershed management has been a key topic in water conservation research for decades (Farrington and Turton, 2000). Although largely rural, its emphasis on governance could link it with analogous movements in urban and regional planning, as has occurred in the U.S.
Irrigation and drainage have been primarily associated with agricultural water conservation in South Asia. The Indian committee of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) cites few urban projects in their website and publications. Even progressive irrigation initiatives, e.g. participatory irrigation management, are conceived as rural development programmes, the drip irrigation sector, led by organisations such as the Irrigation Association of India and multinational irrigation companies. At the same time, India has been the locus of innovative social research on irrigation systems in recent decades under the auspices of organisations such as the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), which has researched the links between irrigation research and reuse of treated municipal wastewater (e.g. Celio et al., 2009).

Connections between rural and urban water harvesting systems were curated in the Centre for Science and Environmentʼs Dying Wisdom: The Rise, Fall and Potential of Indiaʼs Traditional Water Harvesting Systems. A follow-up volume on Making Water Everybodyʼs Business was explicitly structured into urban and rural case studies (it also includes some international examples though not formal comparisons across case studies, or North American cases). These movements have had policy adoption at the urban (e.g. Chennai) and state levels (e.g. Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh). Productive scientific debates have focused on the performance and potential of water harvesting at different scales of water planning.

Odisha, a fast-urbanizing coastal state in India faces significant challenges to protect its water resources from water pollution emanating from its 115 cities and towns. As of 2017, nineteen river stretches were highly polluted and centralized sewage management was seen as not suitable in all urban areas due to technical, social and governance reasons. Drinking water scarcity was looming large with its vulnerability to natural disasters like cyclones, and long dry spells of hot weather each year. These issues, exacerbated by climate change, impacted marginalized communities.
The escalating crisis necessitated swift government intervention, paired with efforts to foster citizen responsibility for resource conservation. The sanitation policy was re-written in 2017 and focus was driven towards a multi-dimensional, inclusive approach involving community managed decentralized solutions for wastewater management.
In order to enhance climate resilience, three-pronged principles were adopted: people-centric initiatives, nature-driven approaches, and the development of resilient and inclusive economies. Odisha introduced an innovative wastewater treatment system of separate black and grey-water treatment that is environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient. The decentralized, customized, community-driven model recycles treated water, reducing freshwater shortages and environmental risks. Powered by solar energy, this system avoids chemicals and promotes zero discharge.
Odisha's efforts have a strong focus on empowering marginalized groups like women and transgender self-help groups (SHGs) and slum dwellers associations (SDAs). 1500 SDAs have been associated as implementing partners creating employment opportunities and improving livelihoods. 113 SHGs groups were trained and engaged for operation of the faecal sludge treatment plants. Over 7.3 million urban inhabitants including one third living in informal settlements have benefited from these interventions. As of 2023, twelve polluted river stretches were delisted due to improvement in river health. Grey-water management with nature-based systems is on-going. This approach resulted in reducing pressure on freshwater and advancing climate resilience.

Odisha (an eastern Indian state) prioritizes water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for all. Besides creating adequate infrastructure, Odisha is ensuring the last mile service delivery through a decentralized community -led WASH management in the cities. This instills community stewardship while leveraging the local resources and skills.

Around 23% of Odisha’s urban families (1.56 m people) live in slums (Census, 2011), are engaged in informal daily wage job like sanitation work, rag picking, construction labor, etc. With low levels of education and skills, they struggle accessing opportunities in urban areas. Absence of identity and address papers deprive them of state’s social security benefits.

India’s 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, and National Urban Livelihood Mission, 2013 mandate the Urban Local Bodies to address vulnerabilities of urban poor through grassroots institution building, skilling and engaging them in livelihoods.

Odisha has engaged a woman cadre called Jalasathis (Water-Friends) in 2019, who are WSHG members, for managing public awareness, water tax collection, and resolving on-the-ground issues of water supply. Similarly, based on the DAY-NULM and SBM Convergence Guidelines, 2018, Odisha has pioneered the decentralised community partnership model in Solid Waste Management (SWM).
More than 5000 women members from sanitation worker, waste picker and trans-women SHGs are spearheading the SWM value chain – ensuring citizen’s behaviour change, collection and processing of segregated waste.

Odisha has established a training - learning ecosystem with tech-support from Urban Management Centre, a not-for-profit. WSHG friendly modules on their roles and responsibilities, digital literacy, financial literacy, communication skills have been developed and they have been trained.

Overall, 6000 plus WSHG members are managing WASH in Odisha. These women earn a decent income of 15000 INR per month and can access social security entitlements. Women’s status has increased within family and the community; they have gained voice and agency besides their economic empowerment.