On Certain Leagle Matters Of Irrigation Water Users' Association

Irrigation Water Users' Association is an irrigation management model coming into being under the conditions of market economy. It aims at establishing the market mechanisms of water supply and use in irrigation districts to encourage the irrigation water users to join Irrigation Water Users' Association and ensure the functioning of the irrigation project, thus helping irrigation districts achieve its economic self-reliance gradually so as to obtain sustainable development in irrigation water using process. In early 1990s, China introduced this irrigation management model from abroad and promoted pilot projects in the country. Up to now, the nation has achieved great success in many aspects: systematization of the irrigating process, basic maintenance of the irrigation project, increase of the collection of water charges as well as promotion of water conservation, etc. However, this pattern still has many problems in legal domain and actual operation. The present paper, taking the construction and operation of Irrigation Water Users' Association in Heihe irrigation area of Zhangye as an example, explores a new model of association management with Chinese characteristic based on field investigations and studies.The paper includes three parts:PartⅠis an overview of Irrigation Water Users' Association. This part introduces basic theories of the association and its social background, which prepares for the rest part of the paper.PartⅡis a case study of Heihe Irrigation District of Zhangye, pointing out the present problems relating to the association. These problems mainly cover two aspects: the legal aspect and operational aspect.PartⅢanalyzes the questions raised in the second part, meanwhile proposes countermeasures and corresponding solutions to help solve the problems. Besides, the authoress also presents the introduction of international water bank mechanism to the association and conceives a preliminary frame.