Water rights and the processes of negotiations among irrigators in West Shewa Zone: the case of Indris Scheme in Toke Kutaye District

Though water rights are at the core of exploiting water resources for irrigation purposes, trivial concerns were offered to the case of Indris irrigation scheme in Toke Kutaye district in West Shewa. The historical background and development of the scheme has been presented in a contentious manner. The augmenting number of competitors too paved the way for conflicts that recurrently erupt out and inevitably lead to a succession of negotiation processes. With the inception of such missing gaps, this research aimed to scrutinize water rights and the processes of negotiations among irrigators along Indris modern scheme, in Toke Kutaye district. To maintain this objective, qualitative research methods were predominantly utilized as the main data generating tools in the field. The findings of the research depicted that Indris scheme marked three significant phases in its historical development. In these phases, explorations pertaining to water rights and processes of negotiations were found to be at their immature ground. While the elements of the riparian doctrine of water rights preponderated during its initial phase, the components of appropriative doctrine pronounced more at its middle age. A mix of ingredients from both doctrines interwoven with certain extra requirements determined the water right access of users since the conversion of the scheme into a modern style. Multiple water right rules emanating both from the customary and formal water acts have co-existed to direct the actions of users. In this regard, the theoretical orientations of legal pluralism in water right paradigms proved to coincide with the pragmatic contexts of water users from the scheme. Conflicts in connection to irrigation water use and rights that have escalated over years have been attributed to the decline in the volume of water resources, institutional failures to address the causes adequately, week observance on governing water right rules and increasing demand of users. As a result, negotiation processes aiming to settle disputes were repeatedly initiated either by users, committee members (elders) or courts. The procedures pursed to narrow competing interests around the scheme confirmed the pragmatic applicability of the central arguments of both cyclical and developmental models of negotiation processes discussed comprehensively by Gulliver. Thus, in the face of increasing demands on a declining water resource, the findings of this research revealed out that concerned individuals or relevant institutions need to exert further endeavor on the formulation of water policies that clearly stipulate specific irrigation water entitlements of users. Enforcements on the frame of references set on the water manual need to be rigorously checked on practical implementations. Awareness buildings on irrigation water right claims, promotion of negotiated approaches in disputes and accentuation on customary rules of resource use constituted the dimensions seeking meticulous considerations in prospect.