4. INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

INTRODUCTION

This Working Paper is part of a joint effort, the objectives as defined in the Terms of Reference are to: demonstrate a practical application of the integrated DrainFrame approach; and improve project design and preparation through application of an integrated framework of analysis and participatory planning as well as the development of strategic guidelines and recommendations for integrated management interventions elaborated in the Integrated Irrigation Improvement Management Project (IIIMP) logical framework (IIIMP objectives, see MWRI 2004a).

The Mahmoudia command area (MCA), which will be part of the Integrated Irrigation Improvement Management Project (IIIMP), was selected by the study team for application of the DrainFrame approach. This working paper deals with the institutional aspects of water management in the MCA in two respects:

(a) Institutional issues of water management in the MCA

Based on the water-related issues identified in the other working papers (Hoevenaars and Slootweg; Pearce; Salman and the National Consultant Team), and on interviews with key resource informants (see list of interviewees), the present working paper discusses whether the existing institutional setting allows for the capture of the benefit of the multi-functional use of water, whether it facilitates coordination among conflicting uses and addresses the associated negative effects.

(b) Decentralization of water management and its financial implications

The establishment of water user associations at the mesqa level, which started with the Irrigation Improvement Projects (IIP), will proceed under IIIMP. However, two types of water user organizations are currently being experimented at the branch canal level. Although the organizations differ in terms of their representative system and the tasks they wish to perform, they are not exclusive. Both may specifically respond to water management tasks of a given branch canal. Cost recovery is one of the elements at both levels of the MWRI's decentralization strategy that needs to be changed under the present arrangements.

This present working paper relies on available documents, reports and research papers and on interviews with experts from within ministries: the Drainage Research Institute, water boards and other key informants (see list).

THE INSTITUTIONAL COMPONENT OF DRAINFRAME

The institutional component of DrainFrame needs to be systematically linked to the function-value component, as outlined in the World Bank's Report Reclaiming drainage towards an integrated approach (Abdel-Dayem et al., 2004). The importance of adding this to DrainFrame is evident for more than one reason: Institutions’ impact on water management performance may cause inefficient and environmentally unsustainable use and management of natural resource systems. The analysis of institutional arrangements, as a part of DrainFrame, thus intends to identify inadequacies of institutional design and to explore avenues for institutional improvements.

Natural resource systems perform functions that provide multiple goods and services that can be used by society. People or groups in society value these goods and services, and the respective values are protected or not by institutional formal and informal rules that express how a society wishes to use its water resources. In the context of DrainFrame, major questions were posed concerning whether the institutional arrangements in place allow for the benefit of the multi-functional use of the water resource system to be captured, and whether the governance structure reflects the multi-functionality of water use; representing, for instance, agricultural and non-agricultural water users. It may be said that institutions specify who is eligible to use water, the respective governance mechanisms, the water management organizations and the financial basis for resource development and management.

Given the premise of integrated water resources management, and for the institutional arrangements to be designed accordingly, water policy must define what needs to be integrated, the instruments to be applied, and to what degree authority is devolved or decentralized.

EGYPT'S NATIONAL WATER POLICY REFORM INITIATIVES

During the last 50 years the population has tripled from 19 million (1947) to about 65 million (2000). It is expected that the population will rise to 95 million in 2025. Egypt is already known as a water short country and about 850 m³/per capita/year is used, which in 2025 will drop to 600 m³/per capita/year. To meet increasing demand from all sectors, and ensure the sustainable use of water resources, national water policy documents emphasize that the use of available water resources should be optimized. Several programmes have been launched, including improvement to the irrigation systems at the branch and field canal levels on the old land, which is expected to result in 5-10 percent water savings; reuse of drainage water, which will contribute to an increased overall water use efficiency; introduction of new crop varieties and replacement, and rehabilitation of existing barrages and control structures on the Nile and main canals (MWRI, 2002b).

In order to absorb population growth, offer new job opportunities and increase food production, the Egyptian Government has decided to reclaim 3.4 million acres (1 acre equivalent to 0.405 hectare), which will add to the current 8 million acres of land cultivated under a series of mega land reclamation projects, namely North Sinai, Northwest Delta and Toshka.^[12] This will increase water use in agriculture by 5 billion cubic metres (BCM). Since water availability in Egypt is limited to 55.5 BCM/year according to the Egyptian-Sudanese Water Accord (1959), it is expected to increase the river's yield at Aswan and to reduce water losses in the swampy areas of the Upper Nile through joint projects. The expected water benefit from the Jonglei canal, for instance, was expected to be 4 BCM, but came to a halt because of the political situation in southern Sudan (Fahmy, 1996; MWRI, 2002b).

Due to the fact that the development of water resources and supply-driven solutions are limited in meeting ever increasing demand, the Government of Egypt, and its respective ministries, recognized the need to implement non-physical means, such as the establishment of user organizations to improve the effectiveness of water management. It is also foreseen that phased cost recovery mechanisms will allow users to pay the costs of water improvement structures, water delivery and drainage services (MWRI, 2002b).

Recent national water policy documents stress the importance of water quality protection and pollution abatement. The MWRI has established a national water quality monitoring programme on the River Nile, two branches, the main canals and drains and on Lake Nasser. In coordination with other ministries, the MWRI has launched a national programme to stop the discharge of untreated industrial wastewater into the main stem of the River Nile. In its first phase, the programme covered 34 facilities, to which it provided technical support and financial assistance to establish treatment facilities. In a second phase, those facilities are considered that dump effluent into the main canals, and the final stage will address the discharge of industrial effluent into agricultural drains. In addition, all islands in the River Nile downstream of the Aswan High Dam and its two branches have been declared natural protected areas to safeguard the water of the River Nile and associated ecosystems. Lake Nasser itself requires protection to prevent deterioration of its water quality from return flows and sediment deposition in the reservoir, which is a major concern for water quality, the ecosystem of the lake and for users downstream of the Aswan High Dam.

Egypt has committed itself to developing and adopting the concept of integrated water resources management, which integrates all available resources to meet the water demands of the different water use sectors. To this end, improved coordination is required between government institutions and actively participating water users in the planning and management of water resources. The Government of Egypt has been proactively engaged in facilitating the participation of water users, and wishes the private sector to play a greater role in water management, service delivery and in mobilizing financial resources. The MWRI will seek to remain uninvolved in the lower management level, i.e. branch canal, to the next technical level, the feeder canal.

In pursuing integrated water resources management at all levels, the MWRI has established an Institutional Reform Unit (IRU) to be the driving force for institutional reform (Kandil, 2003). The mandate of the IRU is to:

• stimulate, facilitate and promote the progress of institutional reform in the water sector at strategic and operational levels;

• promote reform-related sector activities;

• coordinate the strategic and operational reform agenda;

• assure the participation of all relevant stakeholders;

• arrange for the development of reform concepts;

• assess institutional reform in the irrigated agricultural water sector; and

• monitor the reform process (MWRI, 2003).

Decentralization will in turn result in major shifts in the role of public sector agencies, most notably the MWRI with its sectors and EPADP. To achieve this, a number of new laws and amendments to laws have been launched, some of which have already been passed in parliament. In addition, new units have been established within the MWRI such as the Central Department of Irrigation Advisory Services, the Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring, the Water Quality Monitoring Component, the Water Quality Management Unit and the Groundwater Sector. The Integrated Irrigation Improvement Management Project is part of Egypt's efforts to deal with the enormous challenges facing its water sector in the achievement of water security and sustainability for all users.

ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES FROM AN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

The irrigation and drainage infrastructure in the Mahmoudia command area (MCA), and the water it conveys, connects water users within one landscape and across landscapes (for the identification of landscapes, see Chapter B.1. Impact on natural resources). Irrigated areas upstream are linked with irrigated areas downstream via the Mahmoudia canal and the Edku drainage system. Irrigators are linked with water users in cities, for example Alexandria and the urban centres; irrigated areas with fish farming, and both with Lake Edku, into which the Edku drain finally discharges. All water users are linked with the Mediterranean Sea. Multiple, heterogeneous water users make use of the infrastructure and water for different purposes; water users are not independent but interdependent. Usage of water in one area may affect water availability or water quality in the receiving areas. The basic features of interdependent water users and their conflicting preferences and water demand must be dealt with institutionally. Figure B.4.1 shows the multiple user structure and how the irrigation and drainage system is used and connected to upstream and downstream users.

The technical and managerial interventions, proposed under the Integrated Irrigation Improvement Management Project, are focussed on irrigation improvement and existing uses may be affected positively or negatively. In either case, there is a need for a pre-assessment into how interventions will change the benefits currently received by the multiple water users that include irrigators and the fishery sector downstream of the MCA. If impacts are negative, managerial or economic measures are required to prevent or mitigate these effects. If impacts are positive, it is reasonable to assume that all those who benefit from the interventions will share in the cost of the provision of water and drainage service and in maintaining the infrastructure.

Figure B.4.1 Interdependence of water users in Mahmoudia command area

Problems and opportunities identified in the working papers submitted by Hoevenaars and Slootweg, Pearce, Salman, the National Consultant Team, and during the study tour in June 2004 are recalled emphasizing their institutional dimensions. These issues/opportunities are:

• Water pollution in canals and drains caused by untreated sewage affects health, which appears to far outweigh other damage caused by poor water quality. Solid waste disposal is a widespread problem hindering the performance of irrigation and drainage management, and adds to water quality problems in canals and drains. The polluting sources are industrial effluents, wastewater from urban centres and villages and solid waste from village residents.

• Reuse of drainage water is affected by irrigation improvement measures because they reduce the amount of water entering the drains, and therefore lead to less water for dilution and conversely higher salinity levels in the water bodies and on the fields. Pollution from non-agricultural sources that discharge into drains affects the reuse of drainage water. (For details, see Chapter B.2 Engineering perspective and Chapter B.3 Water quality and reuse).

• The often perceived loss of irrigation water, resulting from spills at the tail-ends of canals or from over irrigation to which new investments and rehabilitation efforts respond must be critically reviewed since economic use is made of drainage water in the lower reaches of the delta.

• The threat to biological diversity in the delta is alarming. It is difficult to maintain the ecological character of the wetlands of the northern lakes because of the enormous pressure exerted by the above-mentioned water quality and quantity problems. Those that engage in the disposal of drainage water carrying other pollutants should take into consideration its ecological impacts.

• Equitable sharing of irrigation water is an issue both at the branch canal and mesqa levels. The non attainment of which causes economic losses and social conflict. Tail-end farmers may not receive water at all; they may spread water over a larger area (without being able to apply an adequate leaching fraction), or they may withdraw highly saline water from nearby drains.

• Water savings are the stated objectives of the IIIMP, which are in accordance with national water policy objectives. However, empirical findings from IIP schemes indicate the intensification of cropping (rice, new crop varieties) rather than to water savings. To achieve water savings, which might be re-allocated to either the newly reclaimed areas or to other uses, there is a need to enforce restrictions on rice cropping.

WATER QUALITY ISSUES AND POLLUTION CONTROL IN CANALS AND DRAINS

Canals and drains in the Mahmoudia command area, and the water they convey, provide multiple services to heterogeneous users. Canals and drains serve as washing areas, for waterfowl and as fishing grounds. They are used by industry, urban centres and rural settlements as outlets to discharge untreated wastewater. Residents dump solid waste into the canals and drains and on public land, namely the embankments. This blocks the flow in drains and canals and polluted water is carried to downstream fields, outfalls, or to irrigation canals from which diluted drainage water is reused for irrigation purposes. The MCA is labelled a "black area" for water-related diseases by the Ministry of Health (personnel communication).^[13] However, the major polluting sources and their impacts are not known.

More than one law regulates water pollution control, namely Law 48/1982 for the protection of the Nile River and waterways, Law 12/1984 on irrigation and drainage and Law 4/1994 on environmental protection. Law 48 is comprehensive, as it sets standards for the quality of the discharged effluents, for the receiving water bodies, and for the quality of drainage water before it is mixed with fresh canal water.^[14] The Law outlines the authority to approve discharge licenses: the Nile Protection and Maintenance Sector for the River Nile, the Irrigation Sector for canals and EPADP for drains. The staff of the Irrigation Sector informs the Ministry of Public Health and Population if there are any violations, which in turn takes samples and the results from its laboratories^[15] are reported to the sector. Fines are then levied and the law enforced by the Environmental Police (under the Ministry of Interior).

New industrial facilities are required to submit an environmental statement to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) on the state of industrial wastewater as a prerequisite for getting their operation license.^[16] Emissions from existing facilities are monitored at the end of the pipe, here and there if violations are detected. Industrial enterprises are required to comply with proposed measures within 60 days; otherwise the Environmental Police take action. Enforcement is difficult to attain, however, because of social and development concerns. Therefore, cooperation with large industrial establishments has been initiated to achieve compliance. Similar compliance programmes may be initiated with local industrial enterprises in the MCA.

Enforcement of the law at the village level to prevent discharge of sewage into drains or to dump waste on the embankments and into the drains is difficult. The monitoring capacity of EPADP is limited, since there are thousands of villages and small settlements and millions of polluters (KfW, 2000). Rural communities in the study area continue to be largely without effective and environmentally sound systems for the disposal of sewage and solid waste. Only in some areas is sewage collected in closed concrete tanks. These are emptied every two months by special trucks that frequently dispose their load into canals or drains.

It has been stated that the law is basically too rigid for implementation because it requires higher than secondary treatment of sewage, which is not practically attainable in villages. In the absence of a separate collector system for sewage and waste, individual residents are unable to adhere to the law.

It is the responsibility of the Beheira governorate to provide these services, as a part of infrastructure development, and it has been rather successful in its capital and urban centres:^[17] approximately 100 percent of households are connected to the water supply and 70 percent to sewage collection. The governorate has been proactive in installing water meters, households are thus charged according to their actual water consumption, and differentiated water charges are imposed to stimulate water savings. Treatment facilities in eight districts of the governorate are more than 20 years old and in dire need of rehabilitation (personal communication with the head of the planning unit, Beheira governorate).

It is assumed that the highly centralized mode of decision-making hampers local infrastructure development. Proposals from local administrative units are channelled through the administrative districts to the planning unit of the governorate, which submits its development plans to the Ministry of Planning and other ministries. Funds are allocated through the respective ministry(ies) to the governorates, which in turn select the contractors. The Planning Unit of Beheira has, for instance, identified priority issues and areas in some of its 15 administrative districts. Since governorates have no tax income of their own, they rely on central budget allocations for implementation. Since central budget allocations from either ministry are restricted, local participation of users is required to share in investment, management cost of sewage facilities, solid waste collection and management systems.

Village mayors, together with the heads of families and the village councils (members from three to four villages and their satellite villages), may informally and voluntarily agree on providing services. It has been proposed, for instance, that local administrative units and villagers provide land to serve as the disposal area, and share 50 percent of the cost of a sewage collection system including the transport to disposal areas. In one village, with approximately 20 000 inhabitants, a solid waste committee has been established to run the business. The respective village council agreed on fees that are higher for businesses than for households, and decided that violators may be fined. Village councils do not have the legal authority to charge or collect fees and are unable to impose and execute fines. Political decisions are required to improve this situation.

Observations show that one water board in the study area has already begun to develop local action plans at the branch canal level, which include canal cleaning and creation of safe washing areas. This water board has encouraged its members to clean up their immediate environment. While water boards have the potential to initiate action, the local administrative unit would have to organize for the collection and safe processing or disposal of solid waste.

A Regional Service Committee has been established to coordinate the joint water quality activities of the public agencies concerned. The Governor acts as the Chair, and members are from the Irrigation and Drainage Districts, Public Health, Environment, Ministry of Local Development and Ministry of Interior (Police). The Regional Service Committee may define water quality objectives in terms of legal requirements and local feasibility, and could develop site-specific compliance action plans.

Whether these action plans could become part of the Environmental Management Plans under the Integrated Irrigation Improvement Management Project (IIIMP), or whether a separate investment programme for physical infrastructure is needed, remains to be decided. There is however a need to include local administrative units and the mayors of villages together with the heads of families and village councils in decision-making on further actions; selection and implementation of effective and low-cost technology, and how users may contribute towards the operation cost.

INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES OF DRAINAGE WATER REUSE

Pearce (2004) mentions two predominant types of drainage water reuse:

• Official reuse: Water from main drains is blended with freshwater from the main canals to be used downstream for irrigation purposes and for the municipal water supply.

• Unofficial reuse: Farmers, mostly at the tail-end, pump water from nearby drains because there is insufficient or no canal water available. It is estimated that unofficial reuse accounts for 50 percent of the total reuse of drainage water.

Law 48/1984 (Art. 65) is regarded as comprehensive in defining the standards for drainage water before being mixed with fresh canal water. However, actual implementation focuses on salinity as the major component. Generally, the salinity of mixed water closely follows MWRI policy; water quality is good with respect to salinity levels. Kielen (2002) mentions that there would be no evidence that official reuse has caused a widespread increase in salinity levels. Local salinity may be high although yields are not severely affected, except those of beans. Reuse of drainage water from the main drains remains problematic, unless pollutants from non-agricultural sources, such as from industry and settlements are controlled. BOD, COD and faecal coliform levels from non-agricultural sources are high. This is also the case for branch drains that receive pollutants from small industrial enterprises and villages.

At present, the district engineers of EPADP, of the Irrigation Sector and of the Mechanical and Electrical Department are the decisive actors. EPAPD, through the Drainage Research Institute, monitors water quality in drains, maintains the off-farm drainage network, decides on the closure of mixing stations if water quality is poor, and advises the irrigation district engineers of the Irrigation Sector on mixing ratios. EPADP has the mandate to monitor violations of the safe disposal of effluents and to enforce Law 48. Water quality in canals, after being blended with drainage water, is subject to monitoring by the Irrigation Sector, while the operation of the pumping stations is the responsibility of the MED staff.

The proposed intermediate reuse provides an opportunity for drainage water to be recycled at the downstream points where there is significant pollution discharge. This means that water from branch drains would be mixed with water in branch canals and only used for irrigation. Thus intermediate reuse of drainage water provides a potential role for water user organizations at the branch canal level.

DOWNSTREAM DRAINAGE WATER USERS

The main drain, Edku, was constructed in the 1960s by EPADP with Lake Edku serving as its outfall. It appears that the use of drainage water provides ample opportunities for economic development (fish farming, vegetable cultivation and horticulture), while the environmental effects on Lake Edku are as yet unclear. The new interventions, planned under IIIMP, may eventually affect economic activities and the water body of the lake, as they will reduce the inflow of freshwater and may cause the drains to carry higher concentrations of pollutants to fish farms, farms and the lake. It is therefore recommended that interventions are reviewed to take into account beneficial downstream water uses (fishery, the lake's ecosystem), and to establish institutional linkages between those organizations managing agricultural water use and the fishing community.

Fish farming, using drainage water, started 20 years ago in the southern area of Lake Edku. Fishponds now cover 8 000 feddanFishponds feddan; what the lake was 20 years ago is now dedicated to fish farming. The land for the ponds is leased out by the Government (Fishery Authority of the Ministry of Agriculture) on a yearly basis, the rent of which is very low (see Box B.4.1). According to a representative of the Fishery Authority, the licensing procedure for pond operation is rather bureaucratic. Only drainage water is used in fishponds and, if compared to water use in irrigated agriculture, a fishpond produces about LE 6 000/feddans, which is more than five times the value of cropped land (see Chapter B.1. Impact on natural resources). Pond operators also own farms along the coastal strip where they cultivate a great variety of crops either irrigating with drainage water or rainfed. Industry to process agricultural products is unavailable in this region and products, including fish, are sold to the local market and the city of Alexandria.

According to one pond leaseholder and cultivator of land, the quality of the drainage water has not been problematic for fish farming or for his agricultural business, and no shortage of drainage water has ever occurred. Monitoring is required by the authorities responsible for hygiene and health safety since coliform values in drainage water are high.

The pond operator assumes that the quality of water in the drain, which is finally released into Lake Edku, is no worse after being used in fish farming, a guess that needs investigating. Whether substances in drainage water accumulate in fish meat and crops, and whether fish yields in the lake are affected, may be of interest to the respective ministries: the Ministry of Health and the Fishery Authority.

Since water is free, drainage water is free, but the operators of ponds and land owners bear all the investment and operation costs for diverting drainage water to the fishponds and farms. This seems fair; the yearly rent for using public land as fishponds is low (1.5 percent of income). It would be reasonable that the fish farm operators and cultivators, who use drainage water and the drain, contribute toward the maintenance cost of the drains to a similar degree (1.5 percent), since they rely on adequate flows.

Box B.4.1 Fish farming and land cultivation near Lake Edku using drainage water

Pond operators and farmers using drainage water have no secure user-rights, neither for quantity nor quality. So far, the actors in the fishery sector have no direct means of influence. To maintain the economic benefit of drainage water IIIMP, and water management practices upstream of the main drain, would have to take due consideration of this economic sector by guaranteeing a total maximum daily load of pollutants to restrict the negative impacts on the fishery sector. It would be conceivable to enter into a contractual relationship with those who use drainage water, the relevant party being the MWRI's EPADP, which operates the main drain. Safeguarding the water quality of drainage water would go beyond EPADP's mandate, and would require coordination with those controlling the sources of pollution.

STRENGTHENING WATER USER PARTICIPATION

In the last few years, as a result of the increase in the operation and maintenance costs of the irrigation and drainage systems and the impossibility of increasing budgetary allocations to the sector, the Government sought to reduce its direct involvement in the operation and maintenance of public irrigation systems and, to a lesser extent, of drainage services. This spurred the present move toward participatory water management, a policy that is being proactively promoted by the Government of Egypt. Farmer participation is at a relatively early stage of development, and several experiments are ongoing (MWRI and USAID, 2002; Kandil, 2003).

Participatory institutions - the solution to inequitable water allocation

Since the introduction of perennial irrigation throughout the country, the provision of irrigation services in the main and branch canals is under the MWRI's Irrigation Sector and its Irrigation District Units, while the tertiary canals (mesqa) are fully owned and managed by the group of farmers supplied by the mesqa. However, they were not organized into any formal or informal groups.

The main canals have continuous flow, while the branch canals are operated according to a rotational schedule. The amount of water delivered is based on an estimated cropping pattern and crop water requirements agreed upon between the MWRI and the Ministry of Agriculture. Once a mesqa gets its water from the branch canal, individual farmers lift the water from the mesqa to the farm ditches, the marwa, by means of a sakia (a Persian-wheel) and more often by a diesel pump. Their user-rights to water are bound to the size of land and to the crop planted, for example rice growers in designated areas are assigned higher per unit shares. If farmers use groundwater instead, which is rare in the MCA, to supplement canal water, a mesqa's water assignment would be reduced by the same amount.

Due to the nature of the technical system farmers rely on each other for their most crucial input, water. Since the water available in the canal is limited (capacity, rotational operation) and since each extracted water unit is no longer available to others, the technical system requires that some water allocation rules are agreed upon and enforced. This is covered by Law 12/1984, which organizes the operation and maintenance of mesqas (and field drains). Water allocation rules are similar to a constitution within an irrigation system that defines who has a legal claim to use the resource and, for instance, the maintenance obligations therein. This includes procedures on how to appropriate resource units among the large number of users when water is relatively scarce; who has to bear what cost, and sanctions on rule violators.

Where irrigation systems operate on a rotational basis, branch canals at the tail-end of a main canal may not receive sufficient water. Even where mesqas at the head and middle reaches of branch canals get water, it may not reach the tail-end farmers of a mesqa. There, the farmers are forced to pump saline water from nearby drains, thus increasing the salinity hazard in some locations.

Until the 1980s, traditional forms of settling conflicts were effective among the farmers of a mesqa. For instance the Rais El Munawaba, who was a respected man in the village, usually an elder, with financial means and land in the mesqa, settled disputes over water and organized the maintenance of the mesqa system on a regular basis. The munawaba, the organization of farmers, allocated water on a time basis, the share of each was proportional to one's area and was allocated on a rotational basis. The local law (Haq ul Arab, Rights of the Arab) had a highly specialized system with judges, rights of appeal, investigation methods and rules to sanction defaulters (MWRI, 2002a, pp. 123ff.). Other influential people, such as landholders with substantial holdings and religious sheiks, were also involved in settling disputes to maintain civil peace. These traditional systems broke down, and serious conflicts have been reported that could not be resolved for many reasons. The establishment of water user associations at the mesqa level is an opportunity to agree on allocation schedules and settle conflicts. At present, these have only been established on improved mesqas, but the law allows their establishment on non-improved mesqas.

Increasing conflicts and social unrest over inequitable water allocation, limited capacity of the state's organization to meet all needs, misuse of the resource, the highly complex technical system and the absence of an exclusive and transparent cost-recovery mechanism have all been strong arguments for the participation of farmers. Experience with the Irrigation Improvement Project (IIP) emphasizes this point (see Chapter B.2 Engineering perspective):

• In some branch canals, which are meanwhile operating under continuous supply, water availability has increased. Though water is still insufficient to satisfy demand from farmers who have started to cultivate crops with a high water demand and expanded rice cultivation. This illustrates that competition over water has not come to an end.

• Due to the high capacity of the pump, head-end farmers may withdraw higher amounts of water. Since discharges are smaller under continuous supply, a water schedule must be developed and strictly enforced to accommodate tail-end users.

• It is said that maintenance costs have decreased, but maintaining the water flow in the branch canals demands continuous canal maintenance. Again, farmers who rely on the respective branch canals, would have to agree on their contributions, if user organizations take over their maintenance. It is said that the farmers' ability to pay for branch canal O&M is limited.

• Since farmers have free choice over the cropping pattern except for rice farming, with their response to the market being the determining factor, either the cropping pattern within a mesqa must be coordinated according to water availability, or any other means that can be implemented. So far, rice growing is officially subject to rotation, which is expected to be coordinated by the Agricultural Cooperatives. It has been observed that some water boards have taken over this role.

Having said this, farmer participation at the level of the mesqa and the branch canal needs to be strengthened. This is the stated objective of the IIIMP. Up to the present, MWRI promoted and facilitated the establishment of water user associations at the (improved) mesqa level, and promoted two kinds of user organizations at the branch canal level, namely the federation of water user associations and water boards.

Decentralization of water management

Several types of farmer organizations have been tested, mainly to address irrigation water supply and, to a much lesser extent, drainage. All participatory water management activities have been initiated through MWRI, supported by donor funding and encouragement.

The establishment of water user associations (Box B.4.2) was initiated at the mesqa level as parmesqa part of the Irrigation Improvement Project (Hvidt, 1996; Aziz, no year). The project included an investment component to improve infrastructure, and an institutional component to transfer management to farmers. Single point lifting pumps replaced individual farmer's pumps, and mesqas were raised or pipes installed. The associations control their own pumps, and are expected to operate and maintain them. Irrigation legislation was amended (Law 231/1994) to regulate their establishment, thereby giving them the status of a legal identity, and to specify their responsibilities. Their basic functions are limited to irrigation at the mesqa level.

Farmers already maintain open field drains and their property at their own cost. Following the concept of water user associations, the Drainage Advisory Service of EPADP has promoted the establishment of collector user associations (CUAs) to take responsibility for subsurface drainage schemes after construction. There are more than 2 000 CUAs, where farmers are informally organized to carry out simple maintenance work in pipe collector drainage schemes. Their command area comprises pipe collector schemes covering an area of between 100 and 300 hectares. CUAs were actively supported implementation plans and prevented damage to the system once installed (El-Atfy and Abbas, 2003).

However, CUAs did not survive, because they had no legal basis and, more importantly, they had too little to do. Preventive maintenance on subsurface schemes did not justify the effort of running an organization. In light of the more or less disappointing CUA experiments, the intention to establish separate drainage user associations should be abandoned. (They are supported by the project pre-appraisal mission; Project Pre-Appraisal Mission Report, 2004). The Egypt country study, conducted as a part of the DrainFrame project, has proposed that the branch canal organizations take responsibility for drainage (van Achthoven et al., 2004). At this level, water user organizations can combine both irrigation and drainage since the boundary of a branch canal command is delineated by branch drains; thus they may also realize economies of scale in maintenance. The volume of activities is sufficient to justify a specialized unit of the branch canal organization.

The MWRI has enabled the development of alternative models at the branch canal level, a fact that provides the opportunity of choosing the most adequate and viable form for a given branch canal. In this respect, IIIMP must collaborate with the Central Department for Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS) of the MWRI and with the Institutional Reform Unit.

At the branch canal level, two types of user organization exist:

• water boards

• branch canal water user associations

The water board

At the branch canal level, which typically serves a command area of between 500 and 750 hectares, water boards were introduced in 1995 and the model piloted in the Fayoum Water Management Project and the Water Boards Project.

What is important, in light of the problems discussed in the previous sections, is that a water board's assembly has representatives from agricultural, residential and industrial based units and that they may expand their tasks beyond providing irrigation services. A key has been developed that guarantees broad representation in the assembly and in the water board executive committee for agricultural, residential, commercial and industrial interests. Agriculture based representatives come from the head, middle and tail reaches of a canal to provide a stake to those who are usually disadvantaged. Their Executive Committee represents their respective constituency and takes due consideration of women's participation. (Bron, 2004) Whether local authorities should be included to represent residential interests and to facilitate action should be examined.

The water boards' tasks include allocation of water at the branch canal level, performing maintenance, resolving conflicts, and formulating annual improvement plans, which are negotiated with the MWRI for implementation (with the funds coming from the Ministry). As proposed by the DrainFrame country study and the Water Board's Project, the branch canal command level is the spatial unit where irrigation and drainage can be managed. Water boards have the potential of managing pipe drainage collector drainage schemes and open drains in their command area, operating or overseeing the mixing pumping station for intermediate drainage water reuse, cooperating with industrial enterprises and villages, and engaging in crop consolidation schemes for rice cultivation. However, since irrigation and drainage boundaries do not coincide, there is a need for cooperation based on joint agreements for those drains serving more than the constituency of one water board.

The Chair of the water boards, visited during this study, reported that they are successful in distributing water and that, in the case of violation farmers approach the water boards and no longer the irrigation engineers. It has also been reported that women's participation is appreciated (it was not at first) and that they are able to mobilize members and financial contributions for waste collection and canal cleaning. As yet, the water boards lack full legal recognition and the current legal situation does not provide for the legal transfer of management. Water boards are not allowed to collect fees, they have no bank account and cannot enforce regulation. Changes in Law 12 are now being considered and the necessary amendments to empower water boards have been sent to the parliament.

As a result of the institutional mapping carried out by the Water Boards Project, district water boards are recommended as the next step in decentralizing water management. District water boards could potentially be the platform to fill the communication, consultation and coordination gap. The water boards established at the branch canal level would then form the base units of the district water boards. The district level has been identified as the most effective to facilitate equal level dialogue between the users and the MWRI, since this is its lowest level of institutional representation. At this level budgets are allocated and district engineers have management leeway within the districts. (MWRI, 2004b).

Box B.4.2 User participation

So far, the idea of district water boards, and the design of their preliminary structure are convincing. They have a potentially broader and diverse mandate that better serves integrated water management. Although there is a need to adequately define the role of the district water boards for drainage management, and how district water boards should incorporate water quality issues within and downstream of the command area.

Branch canal water user associations

Unlike water boards, the basic unit of the branch canal water user associations (BC-WUA) are water user associations which, so far, only exist on improved mesqas. The four pilot associations in Salhia, Dakalhia, Beheira and Qena act as spokespersons for the farmers and provide MWRI with suggestions on water issues in these areas. They are not yet responsible for the O&M of the system (MWRI and USAID, 2002, p. 9). Aside from those mentioned, other BC-WUAs have been established, and a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between them and the MWRI, but transfer is presently awaiting system rehabilitation. The BC-WUAs have the potential of focussing on irrigation water supply, conflict settlement and maintenance.

If compared with the water boards, drainage management, residential and industrial interests are not yet part of the BC-WUAs setting. Their mandate and representative system would need to be revised in order to open up branch canal water user associations for multi-task water management.

Comparative advantage of water boards and branch canal water user associations

It is assumed that the two types of user organizations at the branch canal level are not exclusive. Either water boards or BC-WUAs may assume responsibility for multiple tasks. In this way they respond to the requirements for water management on their branch canal.

Table B.4.1 Differences between water board and branch canal water user association

Be it water boards or BC-WUAs, these organizations need support to build skills for management, accounting, billing procedures and levying charges. To achieve this capacity building and technical assistance should explicitly be part of IIIMP. Monitoring of operational and financial performance may be designated the advisory services (CD-IAS, IIP-IAS).

COST RECOVERY

Under the present cost recovery arrangements the costs of mesqa; improvements and the mesqa level costs of the nationwide investment programme in improved field drainage and subsurface collector drains are shared between the Government and beneficiaries. Farmers repay the cost of the mesqa pump through instalments over three years, and the field watercourse/drain improvements through instalments over 20 years. The MWRI's administrative expenses of 10 percent are added to the cost of the pumps and the field works, but no interest charge is levied. At present, farmers on the old land are not required to pay O&M, system rehabilitation or improvement costs for public irrigation and drainage systems. However, farmers owning three feddan or more pay land taxes, which flow into the general budget but are not earmarked for irrigation and drainage. Both payments for mesqa and drainage improvement are collected by the Ministry of Finance's Land Tax Authority district offices from each beneficiary. Mesqa improvement payments go to a Special Fund (Revolving Fund), while drainage repayments revert to the Ministry of Finance. Service charges are assessed according to the size of the landholdings multiplied by the per-feddaaccording feddan cost of the improvement in the particular area.^[18] The MWRI and KfW study (2004) revealed that the collection rates for the drainage programme have not exceeded 60 percent. It assumes that collection shortfalls appear to be the result of administrative inefficiency rather than farmers' unwillingness to pay or inability to pay. The problems mentioned are:

• Delay in MWRI provision of information on improved areas to the Ministry of Finance, based on which the Ministry of Finance issues a decree thus authorizing collections in synchrony with land tax collections.

• Difficulty in arriving at an agreement on the list of landholdings of individual farmers, because the farmers often do not accept the final list resulting in delays in the start of cost recovery.

• Generally insufficient capacity of the Land Tax Authority district offices due to shortcomings in organization, equipment and facilities, staffing and skill levels in critical positions, lack of motivation and incentives.

In 1995, legislation was adopted authorizing mesqa-level water user associations to charge, collect and spend money on the operation, maintenance and administrative costs for their members. In the past Egyptian law provided no basis to facilitate recovery of public irrigation and drainage system costs from beneficiaries on the old lands. Amendments to Law 12/1984 have now addressed this legal constraint.

The MWRI and KfW study (2004) recommends changes to improve the present cost recovery arrangements (mesqa and drainage improvement) and proposes new cost recovery mechanisms for public irrigation and drainage systems.

To improve the collection rates for mesqa improvement costs, the individual mesqa WUAs, rather than the individual landholder, should be the unit charged assuming that the mesqa WUAs are able to develop agreed-upon lists of their members and their holdings. The WUAs would allocate the costs among their members, eventually based on the size of the landholdings. The Land Tax Authority would continue to collect the instalment payments from the WUAs.

The recommended unit for assessment of the drainage repayments would be the branch canal user organizations rather than the WUAs or the collector user associations, since they are the meaningful units for drainage project design, and are able to realize the economies of scale for collector drain maintenance.

Since farmers' contributions toward the cost of public irrigation and drainage systems is one of the elements of the MWRI's reform strategy, it is recommended that recovery of selected public irrigation and drainage system costs be included at the lowest level of the public system, the branch canal. As the major burden on farmers' net income gains comes from mesqa and drainage improvements, charging farmers with additional cost would not significantly reduce their incremental net income gains (two to three percent); a finding that should be carefully checked. The major burden on the farmers' net income gains would come from mesqa and drainage improvements, which remain the largest element in the farmers' irrigation and drainage expenditures.

The branch canal user organizations, being the units of assessment, rather than individuals would have the potential to improve collection rates. The water user organizations would actually collect the charges and make collective payments to the Land Tax Authority, which would merely become a transfer agent.

The implementation of the recommended cost recovery mechanisms entails a number of new responsibilities and changes in the distribution of current responsibilities, the discussion and evaluation of which are outside the scope of this study. However, mesqa water user associations and branch canal organizations need to be institutionally strengthened by making them the legal units of assessment and they should be allowed to make payments in the name of their members.

Whether non-agricultural users should contribute toward cost recovery, e.g. branch drain maintenance costs, and for discharging effluent into feeder and branch canals and main and branch drains, should be investigated. So far, municipal, industrial or other users do not pay for the water and drainage services provided by the establishment of the MWRI's. To charge other than non-agricultural users for receiving services, and to allocate costs among them, might be considered an option to improve the financial basis of the water sector.

RESTRUCTURING THE PUBLIC SECTOR UNITS FOR INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

The establishment of integrated water management districts at the irrigation district level has been piloted in two districts to experiment with integrated water management with a decentralized structure. integrated water management districts would facilitate technical coordination among the still departmentalized sectors, namely irrigation, drainage, pumping stations and groundwater. There are ongoing discussions to make water quality part of the responsibility of the integrated water management districts. It has been reported that the existing boundaries of irrigation and drainage districts should be re-designed and re-aligned to overcome territorial and managerial fragmentation. Integrated water management districts would be created in such a way as to match irrigation, drainage, water quality and, if available, groundwater.

The Institutional Reform Unit established under the Minister's Technical Office in MWRI and in EPADP, is expected to develop a comprehensive proposal for the restructuring of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. However, the objectives and mandates of the integrated water management districts (IWMD) remain unclear, including how they will achieve integration and cooperation with the farmer organizations. It is only when these conditions are met can an organizational structure be developed that results in decentralization. Also to be considered include the composition of the management unit, budget source and to whom would the IWMD report? Also, how will this affect the next administrative level?

It is, however, questionable that the newly created IWMDs are the adequate level on which planning for integration can take place. The reasoning is as follows: it is assumed that larger spatial units would be better at defining and integrating water quality objectives into irrigation and drainage management including reuse. Due consideration would be taken of the protection of freshwater bodies such as the northern lakes and the economic activities downstream in the irrigated areas. In defining the objectives of integrated water management and planning, these units could be the east, middle and west Nile Delta that are subdivided by the Rosetta and Damietta branches. These include irrigation and drainage districts comprising multiple water users (irrigation, cities, villages, industries, fishermen, fishpond operators, etc.). It is at this higher level that the objectives of integrated water resources management need to be defined in a participatory manner, and translated into operational guidelines for the districts and the water user organizations at the branch canal level.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT

A major point to be made is that IIIMP should support the participation of multiple water users in planning, design, implementation and management. Major issues are equitable water allocation and water pollution control. Institutional models for water user participation would be promoted that are advantageous to take over the multiple tasks that go beyond water supply for irrigation purposes only. One of these should be drainage, for which decentralization efforts have been less pronounced.

The IIIMP should take advantage of already existing user organizations and develop them in close collaboration with the Central Department for Irrigation Advisory Services (CD-IAS), MWRI. At present, the water board is more supportive of integrated water resources management. It includes stakeholders from a broad constituency (men and women, agricultural, residential and commercial industrial interest), and could deal with broader management tasks, namely irrigation, drainage and reuse of drainage water. It has the potential of further decentralizing water management to the level of the administrative districts. However, branch canal water user associations also have the potential of managing multiple tasks.

The idea of establishing drainage user associations, either at the mesqa or branch canal level, should be abandoned. It has been proposed that branch canal organizations should take responsibility for drainage and in this way realize economies of scale in maintenance. The volume of activities is sufficient to justify a specialized unit of the branch canal organization.

Strengthening water user associations, and the user organizations at the branch canal level, requires their official recognition as legal entities, including regulations for creating a sound financial basis on which to recover the costs of improvement and fulfil their management tasks.

There is a need to improve the collection rates for mesqa and drainage improvement costs. A promising suggestion is to treat the individual mesqa WUAs as the units of assessment rather than the individual landholder. This assumes that the mesqa WUAs are able to develop agreed-upon lists of their members and their holdings. The WUAs would allocate costs among their members, based on the size of the landholdings. The recommended units of assessment for the drainage repayments would be the branch canal user organizations rather than the water user associations or the collector user associations, since they are the meaningful units for drainage project design and are able to realize economies of scale in drainage maintenance.

Given that farmers' contributions toward the cost of public irrigation and drainage systems is one of the elements of the MWRI's reform strategy, it is recommended that recovery of selected public irrigation and drainage systems costs be included at the lowest level of the public system, the branch canal. Since the major burden on the farmers' net income gains comes from mesqa and drainage improvements, charging farmers with additional cost would not significantly reduce the incremental net farmer income gains (two to three percent), a finding that should be carefully checked. Similarly, the branch canal user organizations would be the units of assessment, rather than individuals.

Institutional changes and capacity building: If the idea of making water user organizations the units of assessment is convincing, then they must be given the legal authority to make payments in the name of their members. Consequently, they would need support in building capacity for financial planning and management.

Whether non-agricultural users should contribute toward cost recovery of e.g. branch drain maintenance cost, and discharge of effluents into feeder and branch canals and main and branch drains, should be investigated. An option to consider would be to charge other than non-agricultural users for services received and to allocate costs, which would improve the financial basis of the water sector.

The huge economic potential provided by the use of drainage water downstream of the command area advocates the expansion of the scope of IIIMP. For this reason the user rights of fishpond operators and land cultivators require recognition. IIIMP might establish institutional linkages between agricultural water use and the fishery sector so not to harm the economic benefit of downstream users.

Water quality and pollution control is a crucial part of sustainable water management in the MCA. Given the local circumstances, this requires the development of feasible (decentralized) options and support for solid waste management and sewage disposal at the village level, and the empowerment of the local administrative units to charge and collect fees for providing these services. IIIMP may facilitate solutions, together with the stakeholders and ministries concerned, and incorporate the provision of these services into its environmental management activities.

Some questions need to be answered regarding the organizational structure and mandate of the integrated water management districts: How would the newly created districts achieve integration? How would the management unit be composed? Where would the budget come from? To whom does the IWMD reportthe report? What is the next higher administrative level? And, how should it cooperate with farmers organizations?

It is questionable as to whether integrated water management districts would be the adequate level to facilitate integrated water resources planning. It would be better to focus on larger spatial units to integrate water quality objectives into irrigation and drainage management, including reuse, taking due consideration of the protection of freshwater bodies such as the northern lakes and economic activities downstream in the irrigated areas. It is at this higher level, that the objectives of integrated water resources management need to be defined in a participatory manner, and translated into operational guidelines for the districts and the water user organizations at the branch canal level.

INTERVIEWS

Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation
Irrigation Sector
Irrigation Improvement Sector
Water Quality Sector
Groundwater Sector
EPADP
Central Department for Irrigation Advisory Services
Drainage Advisory Services
Water Boards Project (Cairo)
Institutional Reform Unit
Director Coordinator, Technical Assistance to Manual Channel Maintenance (Coordinator)
Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation
Fishery Authority
Extension Service
Egyptian Environmental Agency (EEAA)
Beheira governorate, Planning Unit
Regional committee (water quality)
Drainage Research Institute (Environmental Expert and others)
Société Grenobloise d'Etudes et d'Applications Hydrauliques (SOGREAH) consultants
Water boards (improved and unimproved mesqas): chairpersons, members, female members

REFERENCES

Abdel Aziz, Yehia. No year. Irrigation Management Transfer: Development and Turnover to Private water user associations in Egypt, pp. 11-19.

Abdel-Dayam, Safwat; Hoevenaars, J., Mollinga, P. P., Scheumann, W., Sloetweg, R. & van

Steenbergen, F. 2004. Reclaiming Drainage. Toward an Integrated Approach. Agriculture and Rural Development Report 1. The World Bank. Washington, D.C.

Bron, J. 2004. Water Boards Project. User Participation in Water Management in Egypt and its Implications for Institutional Reform. (presentation in July, 2004)

El-Atfy, Hussein & Samir Abbas. 2003. Participation of drainage users in integrated water management, Paper No. 086, presented at the 9th International Drainage Workshop, 10-13 September 2003, Utrecht, The Netherlands (CD-Rom).

Fahmy, H. 1996. Comparative analysis of Egyptian water policies in Water International, 21, pp. 35-45.

Hvidt, M. 1996. Improving irrigation system performance in Egypt: First experiences with the WUA approach in water resources development, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 261-276.

Kandil, Hesham Mohamed. 2003. Institutional reform vision for the irrigation sector in Egypt in water resources development, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 221-231, June 2003.

KfW, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau. 2000. Ägypten. Nationales Dränage Projekt 2 (NDP 2), Projektprüfungsbericht (27 December 2000), Abschlußkontrollbericht (29 December 2000).

Kielen, N.C. 2002. Drainage water re-use and disposal: A case study from the Nile Delta, Egypt. In FAO, Agricultural drainage water management in arid and semi-arid areas, Rome, Italy. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 61.

MWRI. 2002a. Proceedings National Conference on Water Boards, A Broad Base for Water Boards, 30 January - 2 February 2002.

MWRI. 2002b. Adopted measures to face major challenges in the Egyptian water sector. From The Hague 2nd World nd Water Forum 2000 to the Kyoto 3rd World Water Forum, September 2003.

MWRI. Minister's Office, Institutional Reform Unit (IRU). 2003. Egypt. Inception Report, December 2003.

MWRI, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. 2004a. Egypt. Integrated Irrigation Improvement Project (IIIMP) - Preparation Study Inception Report.

MWRI. Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. Water Boards Project. 2004b. Initiating District Water Boards, Final Report, Technical Report No. 35, April 2004.

MWRI & KfW. 2004. Egypt: Study on cost recovery in the irrigation and drainage sector. Draft Final Report. September 2004, 9p4103.

MWRI & US Agency for International Development. Agricultural Policy Reform Program and Environmental Policy and Institutional Strengthening Indefinite Quantity Contract. 2002. Water Policy Review and Integration Study Working Paper, Report No. 65, September 2002.

Project Pre-Appraisal Mission. 2004. Integrated Irrigation Improvement and Management Project (IIIMP-1), Aide Memoir (June 12 - June 30, 2004).

Van Achthoven, T., Merabet, Z., Shalaby, K. S. & van Steenbergen, F. 2004. Balancing Productivity and Environmental Pressure in Egypt. Toward an Interdisciplinary and Integrated Approach to Agricultural Drainage, Agriculture and Rural Development. Working Paper 13. The World Bank. Washington, D.C.

5. NATIONAL TEAM'S PERSPECTIVE

INTRODUCTION

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is considered the undisputed approach by most Egyptian water professionals; although, it is still not operational. The term is used as a catch phrase in policy formulation and planning rather than being adequately applied. Water resources managers and planners realized the extent of the challenge when they began to transfer the approach from an abstract idea to reality; thus planning and implementation of IIIMP constitute a real test for the IWRM approach.

The size, complexity, long history and geophysical peculiarity of the Egyptian water resources system constitute difficulties in the realization of IWRM. The Egyptian natural water resources subsystem is composed of a large number of highly interactive elements. When land resources and control subsystems are added, interactions become problematic and boundaries hard to delineate. Because of Egypt's geophysical situation, the Nile water (more than 97 percent of fresh renewable water resources) is fundamentally controlled at one location (the Aswan High Dam) and flows to one sink (the Mediterranean Sea). Having neither significant storage nor disposal facilities between these two points makes the system rather rigid. The history of the water control sub-system goes back centuries, and has been evaluated under different technological ages, political systems and social values. Most, if not all, of the five selected IIIMP areas suffer from the overall complexities including those of their own water resources system.

The Mahmoudia command area is one of the proposed areas for IIIMP implementation. The supply of water is received primarily from the Rosetta branch through the El-Atf pump station that feeds the Mahmoudia canal. The El-Atf pumping station is located at the most downstream reach of the Rosetta branch, which receives drainage water from five agriculture drains (three of them are polluted). The hydraulic regime of the last reach of the Rosetta branch does not allow for much self-purification to take place. The Mahmoudia canal is also the main source for Alexandria drinking water treatment plants and its natural sink is Lake Maryut. Mahmoudia command area obtains some of its water through east El-Khandak canal, as a supplementary source of water where official drainage water reuse takes place. Groundwater production wells are not widespread in the Mahmoudia command area; however, shallow well and hand pumps are commonly used for drinking water in rural areas.

The total length of the Mahmoudia canal is 77 km; and runs for a distance of 42 km with no control structure (head regulator). Its total command area is about 305 000 feddans. 6 000 feddans have already been improved under the USAID/IIP and improvement of a further 103 000 feddans is ongoing under the WB/KfW-funded IIP; IIIMP targets the remaining 196 000 feddans. Six branch canals are fed from El-Mahmoudia canal, in addition to El-Atf pump station there is one reuse pumping station (Edku pump station) plus three pumping stations to divert drinking water to Alexandria city.

Most of the Mahmoudia command area is covered with tile drainage. A modified drainage system has been installed (123 feddans) on a pilot scale in the Balaqter area; other areas are under construction in El-Fadil and El-Hossan command areas for a total area of around 5 000 feddans. IIP is implemented in full (continuous flow is applied) in a small area of Mahmoudia: Besintway branch canal (8 000 feddans) and Balaqter canals (5 500 feddans).

Common land use in the Mahmoudia command area is agriculture, with sporadic urban centres. The Mahmoudia command area is edged on the north by Edku lake, which receives a large amount of drainage water through the Edku drain. Fish production is a major function of the lake and intensive aquaculture is practised near its shores. The lake acts as a sink for agriculture drains, which has affected its natural fish productivity. Table B.5.1 expresses the fairly stable fish production of Edku lake between 1990 and 1995. This stability is attributed to the expansion in aquaculture, which masks the decrease in natural fish production due to the pollution load of the drainage water. The effect on fish production is much clearer in the case of Maryut lake.

Table B.5.1 Fishery production in the northern lakes

Source: General Authority for Fish Resources Development, Fishery Statistics (SRU-NWRC, 2001)

It is not fair to link environmental degradation of the northern lakes to agriculture drainage alone as poor maintenance and direct disposal of industrial waste has contributed to the deterioration of some lakes. The northern parts of Mahmoudia command area have a fragile productive ecosystem and may have accumulated as a result of agriculture activities; it is also subject to Mediterranean saltwater intrusion in its northern part (Table B.5.2). To maintain the critical salt balance of the system and minimize the deterioration of its soil by other pollutants, expansion of drainage water reuse must be constrained. A minimum amount of drainage water should flow to the sea as an environmental requirement, as Edku lake forms an ecological buffer of wetland between the Mahmoudia agricultural land and the Mediterranean Sea.

Table B.5.2 Drainage water reuse and flowing to sea for western Nile Delta

If contaminant loads to the lake are kept constant, while drainage water flows are reduced, a significant increase is expected in the lakes' trophic response to excessive algae and macrophyte growth. Thus, it could hinder water use for fisheries, recreation and other uses (Imam and Ibrahim, 1996).

The old-new agriculture land of El-Nasser and Nuberia indirectly bound the Mahmoudia command area from the west. As a result of over irrigation in these areas drainage problems have manifested as local waterlogging and excessive seepage in the adjacent old lands at a lower elevation (Mahmoudia command area).

Institutionally, one irrigation directorate (Western Delta Irrigation Directorate) and three irrigation districts cover the Mahmoudia command area. The command area belongs to two drainage directorates: North Beheira Drainage Directorate and South Beheira Drainage Directorate.

INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES

IIIMP aims to build on the successes of the IIP and learn from its shortcomings. "Integrated" is one of two words added to form IIIMP's title. There is an attempt thereby to adopt an integrated approach that goes beyond the physical improvement of irrigation structures. Different types of integration have been recognized: physical, managerial/operational, institutional and social.

Other sincere endeavours are being made by MWRI to apply the concept of integrated water resource management at the irrigation district level or within the jurisdiction of the water boards (canal command level). Most of these initiatives tackle the integration problem from the technical or physical viewpoint rather than considering its socio-economic and environmental dimensions. Thus, integration often entails the coordination of irrigation, drainage, groundwater and water quality activities. Typically, one of these technical activities is considered as central to the integration process and should take the lead or dominate. However, this is against the principle of integration, which means identification of subsystems and their interdependence. The natural resources and equilibrium of societal subsystems should be analysed and addressed together. Thus, it may be a drawback to proceed with regular technical activities and physical improvements by sector and discipline, or to handle any non-technical dimension as a boundary.

The IIIMP recognizes that physical interventions need to be viewed and handled from an integrated perspective. The question is which approach should be followed: "Integrated Irrigation" or "Irrigation Integration"? The question appears to be philosophical although it is also operational. The first approach makes irrigation improvement the core of the IWRM and other elements satellites in its orbit, while the second aims to fit irrigation into an overall IWRM framework.

APPLICABILITY OF DRAINFRAME TO IIIMP

Abdel-Dayem et al.(2004) suggested an iterative analysis of drainage intervention (DrainFrame). It is proposed here as an example of a systematic analytical framework that can be applied in the planning process of the water resources improvements in the Mahmoudia area and to ensure stakeholder participation. DrainFrame is a function and value analysis and assessment procedure embedded in a participatory planning process. The analytical tool's component includes the systematic mapping of the functions of (the goods and services) provided by natural resources systems and the values attributed to these functions by individuals. It covers the exploration of the implications of particular water resources interventions. DrainFrame also provides a framework for discussion and negotiation of trade-offs related to the different functions and values directly related to and influenced by drainage (Abdel-Dayem et al., 2004).

In general, water resources intervention is a set of measures that may be physical or nonphysical. Physical measures (horizontal pipes, vertical wells, evaporation ponds, biodrainage and drainage reuse) are typically more obvious and the first to come into the planning process. Although non-physical measures (awareness, economic incentives, cost recovery, taxes and legislation) could be as effective as physical measures, they come at the end of the planners list. Such non-physical measures could lead to better irrigation water management bringing drainage needs to a minimum level. Investors and farmers in Nuberia and Nasser regions applied surface irrigation instead of sprinkler and drip irrigation. In this case an Enforcing Law 12/1984 for irrigation and drainage could have spared the area its current waterlogging problems. Application of DrainFrame to the IIIMP feasibility study may lead to the inclusion of physical measures to be taken by sectors other than the water sector, such as sewage or solid waste collection systems with treatment and disposal facilities. The IIIMP agenda may be modified to encompass non-physical water measures.

Improving people's quality of life, through a package of economic and social benefits, while safeguarding key ecological functions, should be the goal of any water resources intervention. Since most are indirect, the social and environmental cost and benefits-economic effects and impacts of water resources interventions are hard to quantify or notice. If the economic cost-benefit analysis of the agriculture sector is used alone to judge IIIMP viability, the project will be undervalued. DrainFrame enables the planners to include all stakeholders' values as well as the socio-economic and environmental. Therefore, by considering the opportunity costs of other socio-economic activities (other than agriculture) and environmental benefits, an accurate evaluation can be made of the feasibility of IIIMP.

IIIMP INTERVENTIONS AND STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION

Application of DrainFrame will widen the spectrum of stakeholders to include many more than farmers. It is not always easy to recognize the indirect beneficiaries and stakeholders of the functions of water resources, as they are often considered public. Drainage water disposed of into water bodies (Edku lake) is directly tied to deterioration of the ecological conditions and fish productivity. Fishermen, as stakeholders, are typically forgotten in the planning process of these interventions (disposal) and, at the national level, farmers outnumber fishermen and have far more political power. The existence of Lake Edku at the northern edge of the Mahmoudia command area may dictate the involvement of non-conventional stakeholders, such as the public interested in recreation and environmentalists. The list of drainage stakeholders should include drainage water polluters in rural or urban areas who dispose of their industrial effluent and domestic sewage. Alexandria residents could be considered offsite stakeholders in the proposed interventions that will take place under the IIIMP in the Mahmoudia command area. The need for actual stakeholder participation, rather than consultation, is widely acknowledged. In this sense, the multi-functionality of water resources intervention must be recognized as a first step to taking an inventory of all the stakeholders. Establishment of institutional and legal bodies should allow for the application of the benefit-pay-say principle (Abdel-Dayem et al., 2004).

RAPID SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF THE MAHMOUDIA CANAL COMMAND AREA

General

The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) distributes irrigation water to Egypt's old land by diverting water at various points from the Nile River to principal canals (rayahs), which in turn feed a complex network of main or primary canals. Most of the main system operates on gravity flow. A key feature is that water is generally supplied throughout the network below the surrounding farm ground level, requiring farmers to lift water from the watercourse supplying their farms. An exception to this includes the Fayoum area and some canal commands in Upper Egypt, where deliveries to farm turnout are by gravity flow.

The main canals operate on a continuous flow basis. Generally, they feed branch and distributary canals on a rotation basis, which varies by crop and season. They are by and large either two-turn, i.e. the on-time equals the off-time, such as 7 days on and 7 days off, or three turn, i.e. the on-time equals one half of the off-time, such as 5 days on and 10 days off.

Offtakes from branch and distributary canals (tertiary canals) are called mesqas. These are the points where the public sector role and responsibility for water delivery ends and the private sector's begins. In other words, mesqas are considered private watercourses and their operation and maintenance are under the control and responsibility of farmers.

Mesqas are improved by converting below grade (low level) earthen ditches with multiple pumping/lifting points to elevated and lined, or buried low-pressure pipe, gravity flow mesqas served by a single point pump lift at the head of the new mesqa. Farmers use gravity to direct water flow through a slide gate or valve turnouts into their farm fields (MPWWR, 1998).

The Mahmoudia canal is located in Beheira governorate west of the delta in Egypt. The canal services three districts, Abou Homos, Al Mahmoudia and Kafr Al Dwar. The agricultural Census for 1999-2000 indicated that the number of villages in the three districts is 37, 19 and 40 respectively. According to the agricultural census, a village is defined as a residential area including a mother village in addition to the settlements and ezbas around it. Table B.5.3 shows there are a total of 339 000 agricultural holdings in Beheira governorate on around 1 411.7 thousand feddan. Holdings of less than 5 feddan represent about 34.3 percent of the total agricultural area and holdings of 5 feddan and over represent 65.7 percent.

Table B.5.3 Number and area of the agricultural holdings in Beheira governorate ('000)

Source: MoALR, Economic Affairs Sector, Central Administration for Agricultural Economics, General Directorate for Agricultural Census, Results of Agricultural Census of the Year 1999-2000 Beheira governorate, Cairo, 2004. P 2.

The total number of holdings in the three districts under the study was estimated at 82.6 in the 1999-2000 agricultural census; while their area was estimated at 251.1 thousand feddan, as shown in Table B.5.4. Kafr al Dwar ranked first in the number of holdings and area, Abou Homos ranked second and Al Mahmoudia third.

Table B.5.4 Number and area of the agricultural holdings in the districts studied ('000)

Source: Agricultural Census for 1999-2000, Beheira governorate. P 1.

Three sources of irrigation water are used: the River Nile, underground water and agricultural drainage. Table B.5.5 shows that freshwater from the River Nile is the main water source used. It represents 99.6 percent of the total irrigation water used. A small area of about 2.7 thousand feddans in Abou Homos district utilized drainage water; underground water was not commonly used except on a very small area of about 100 feddan in Kafr Al Dwar district.

Table B.5.5 Holdings with cultivated land distributed according to the source of irrigation water in the three districts ('000)

Source: Agricultural Census for1999-2000, Beheira governorate, P. 64.

There are different types of drains in the three districts. The area served by tile drainage in the three districts represents about 83.9 percent of the total area. Tile drainage is mostly used in Abou Homos district followed by open drains with branches; most of the agricultural area in Mahmoudia district has tile drainage. The area of tile drainage in Kafr Al Dwar ranked first with 80 thousand feddans followed by the area of open drains with branches, estimated at 31.4 thousand feddans. The areas under open drains in Abou Homos and Kafr Al Dwar, without branches or any type of drainage are very small as shown in Table B.5.6.

Purpose of the rapid assessment

The purpose of the rapid assessment is to propose strategic guidelines and recommendations for integrated management interventions in the IIIMP logical framework. This is achieved through a rapid assessment study in one command area namely, the Mahmoudia canal in Beheira governorate. The study includes the following two types of data collection:

• collecting secondary data that cover the three districts served by Mahmoudia canal: the number of villages, agricultural holdings, sources of irrigation water and types of drainage. These secondary data were previously presented under the heading General (above); and

• conducting participatory rural appraisal (PRA) in the different locations of the command area, the results are presented in this section. These meetings were held with the following focus groups: users of an improved mesqa, users of an un-improved mesqa, users of saline areas close to the sea, users of the area close to Lake Edku and women.

Table B.5.6 Holdings in the three districts that include cultivated area distributed according to the type of drainage ('000)

Source: Agricultural Census for 1999-2000, Beheira governorate, p. 68.

Different checklists and semi-structured questionnaires suiting the conditions of each focus group were prepared and used to ensure that all questions covered the required information.

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)

The PRA is a sociological survey technique or type of research designed to provide timely, relevant and beneficial information. It can achieve a rapid assessment of conditions and problems in a particular area or community. In addition to its speed, the major advantage of the PRA survey is its informal structure. The survey consists of group meetings of 10-25 attendees lasting approximately two hours. The PRA involves investigators from different disciplines along with key informants or community leaders who invite the attendees to the meeting. Different types of data from different resources are used in the study.

Improved mesqa

Location: Sharaf Eldin mesqa from Bisintway canal, which branches from Mahmoudia canal. The attendees reported the following.

The main cultivated crops on this mesqa are wheat, broad bean, berseem and carrot in winter, rice, cotton and maize in summer in addition to horticulture crops.

• There is a continuous flow of water in the mesqa. The change from rotation to continuous flow of water and mesqa improvement did not change the agricultural rotation followed and the same crops were cultivated as before the improvement. In addition, no irrigation shortages were experienced at any time throughout the year.

• Women share in transplanting rice, threshing wheat, cutting maize and harvesting cotton, especially if the family has a smallholding. Under these conditions, women replace hired labour, which the family cannot afford. Generally, women do not participate in water user associations. If they own the land, their husbands or sons usually replace them as members. Women participate only in the water boards. Mesqa improvement has not affected women's social habits.

• The WUA has a bank account. When farmers irrigate, they pay one Egyptian pound to the WUA in addition to the cost of oil and gas for the pumping machine per hour of irrigation. Or they pay LE 2/irrigation hour without being responsible for either fuel or oil. If a farmer refuses to pay the fee to the WUA, they are denied the use of irrigation water until payment is made.

• Irrigation water is distributed among them agreeably, so that there is no conflict over water distribution. If there is, the heads of the families in the village meet and solve the problem. This should be the role of the WUA, though farmers in the area follow their traditional principals.

• The attendees at the meeting estimated a decrease of about one-third in the average cost of irrigation after the establishment of the WUA. Before this, almost every farmer on the mesqa had their own pump and was responsible for the cost of its operation and maintenance. Currently, all share the cost of O&M of a one-point lifting pump.

• The attendees reported that irrigation time had been reduced after the establishment of the WUA. Before this personal pumps had less power than that owned by the WUA. Currently, the greater powered WUA pump meets each farmer's irrigation needs in less time. In a study conducted by the EPIQ/IIP water policy team in other developed areas (MPWWR, 1998): it was found that the time to irrigate one feddan of selected crops had decreased after improvement. Before improvement time taken was 6.9, 6.4, 6.2, 5.6, 6.8 hours for berseem, cotton, wheat, maize and sugar cane respectively, after improvement, time taken decreased to 2.6, 2.9, 2.3, 2.2 and 2.8 hours for the same crops respectively.

• The average yield/feddaThe feddan has increased by about 15-20 percent with the existence of the WUA.

• In fact, the increase in the average yield per feddan cannot be attributed to improvement of the mesqa or existence of the WUA, as there are many other technological and climatic factors that affect crop yields.

• Water boards are important and have solved some problems, yet they were not involved in the distribution of water among the mesqas on the canal.

• The attendees believe that the present drainage system is working efficiently. However, the main drains need to be cleaned twice a year to facilitate the efficient working of the private drains. Bad drainage systems adversely affect the soil, and consequently yields decrease.

• Drinking water is available and sufficient. About 95 percent of houses in the village have their own taps for potable water. The remainder obtain their needs for water from a public tap. Septic tanks are connected to the houses to collect sewage. The attendees explained that about 50 percent of the village houses are not connected to the sewage network. Pumping trucks pump this waste and empty it either into the canals or drains. These open drains are polluted and cause disease.

• House waste is partially used to feed poultry. The remaining garbage is collected outside the village and burned or thrown in the drains, which sometimes causes the drains to block.

Un-improved mesqa

Location: Abdel Aziz Makhyoun mesqa from al Hammamy canal, which branches from Mahmoudia canal. The attendees reported that:

• The main cultivated crops on the mesqa are wheat, broad bean, berseem and barley in winter, rice, cotton and maize in summer, in addition to horticultural crops. Rice cultivation is important in this area. Encroachment of the Mediterranean Sea causes an increase in salinity in the agricultural soil. The rice crop is used to leach the soil to retain its fertility. This area is a part of the rice belt area in Egypt.

• There is rotation water flow in the mesqa. Irrigation water is distributed among users according to the length of the rotation, the crop and the size of holding. Generally there is no conflict among users regarding distribution of water. If there is a conflict, the farmers using the mesqa meet and solve the problem.

• There is multiple point lifting along the mesqa, amounting to as many as 25-30 pumps. Each farmer pays the cost of O&M for their own pump.

• The agricultural cooperative is responsible for the maintenance of the mesqa. The cost of maintenance is distributed among farmers on the mesqa according to their holding size. No one refuses to pay their share in maintenance because it is their own private property.

• Attendees had heard about the improved mesqas and the WUAs and believed them to be a good idea with many advantages. They would like to improve their mesqa by lining it to save land and time and protect their soil from water penetration, which adversely affects the soil.

• Attendees suffer from irrigation water shortage, especially in June and July. During this period, drainage water is used for irrigation, especially for rice. Water shortages are common along the mesqa, especially, at the tail-end. Water equitability is not practised.

• If the irrigation system changes from rotation to continuous flow, it will not affect the agricultural rotation followed.

• Women participate in agricultural operations such as rice transplanting and harvesting, wheat harvesting and threshing, cotton harvesting. Sometimes they irrigate if the family has a small-holding.

• Tile drainage prevails in the area, in addition to the main open drains. Drinking water is available, and about 90 percent of village houses have their own water taps. The remaining households obtain their water needs from public taps.

• Pumping trucks empty sewage water and sometimes household waste into the drains.

Area close to the sea

In the meeting with the owners of large farms it was reported that:

• Lands were reclaimed by adding fertile soil to a depth of about 1.5 m. Modern irrigation systems are used; accordingly, productivity is very high.

• Farmers depend on drainage water to irrigate their land. They also own fish farms. It was explained that drainage water needed for a fish farm of one feddan is enough to irrigate 100 feddan of agricultural land. Drainage water is processed for fish farms in four phases and then this naturally treated water is discharged to agricultural farms. This water from fish farms is highly suitable for agriculture production. The average yield/feddaagriculture feddan for a fish farm is about 500 kg.

• Farmers grow all field crops in addition to vegetables and fruit such as apple and apricot. Crop intensity is more than 300 percent.

• Rice is cultivated on an area of about 30 thousand feddans, where farmers raise fish in the rice fields. This practice increases farmers' income as one feddan of rice produces about 85 kg of fish.

Area close to Edku lake

• The area of Edku lake is about 17 000 feddans. The average production of fi. fifish/feddan is about 500 kg. Accordingly, the total production of fish/year is 8 500 tonnes. The number of those who fish increases over time.

• Farmers close to the lake indicated that a decrease in the quantity of drainage water would adversely affect both agricultural and fish production. Increased drainage water potentially may enlarge agricultural land and fish farms.

• Agricultural farms and fish farms create new jobs and one feddan of fish farm needs eight or more labourers.

Women's meeting

The meeting was held with a group of women in Manchat Hamo village where they have a water board for the Besentway canal serving Abou Homos district. The women reported that:

• Women participate in agricultural operations such as rice transplanting, threshing and storing, harvesting cotton, cut maize and irrigation when the other members of the family are busy.

• They had heard about WUAs, although no women participate in these associations. It is quite difficult for a woman to be elected as a head of the board in WUAs, as this is prevented by prevailing customs and values in the area.

• Women are members of the water board; they represent resident areas rather than farmers. The women are involved in activities that deal with increasing women's awareness of the environment and how to protect it from pollution.

• Though women participate in rice transplanting, they do not suffer from any skin disease.

• About 95 percent of village houses get drinking water from their own taps. The other 5 percent obtain it from a public tap.

• Household waste is disposed of by throwing it in the canals or drains. The women know that this causes pollution; they believe there is no other alternative.

• The women know that polluted open drains cause infection with the diseases of bilharzias or malaria.

FIELD VISIT OBSERVATIONS

Technical aspects

The IIP programme is behind schedule in some areas served by Mahmoudia canal due to the delay caused by contractors, attributed to the sudden increase in the cost of construction materials. Though the client is not responsible for any increase in the cost of construction materials, according to MWRI contracts, the government is trying to compensate the executing contractors by providing them with an additional amount of about 25 percent of the value of the ongoing contracts. MWRI, among other ministries, has already raised this issue with the Prime Minister and it is believed it will be positively addressed. IIP will then be in a position to overcome some of the constraints to implementation. Users will then have properly functioning improved facilities.

The low-pressure pipeline mesqa is suggested instead of the presently implemented mesqa to attain better field management of water and reduce operational costs in the long term. No consideration has been given to the opinion of the water user associations during IIP implementation. This is why the World Bank insists on public consultation as a prerequisite for IIIMP.

Guidelines for improvement of the maintenance of system facilities are sought through the IIIMP feasibility studies and implementation. These guidelines should incorporate the design aspects of the project, as well as maintenance cost, quality and the capacity of users to disburse their financial resources.

IIIMP should consider and further investigate the issue of the change in operational rules from level control to volumetric control. Farmers in some areas seem to over-irrigate and over flood their fields, particularly in the rice growing areas. Others, downstream, suffer from limited surface water and an increase in the level of saline groundwater.

In the IIP areas, continuous flow has not been sufficiently applied; reasons may include incomplete improvement of the entire canal serving the project command areas. One branch canal cannot be improved without improving the others. In this case, continuous flow would not be applicable, as one canal is operated continuously while the others are operated under rotation. This is why IIIMP must improve the entire main canal plus all branches. In addition to the inopportune management of the main canal (feeding canal), water is still distributed under a rotational supply to all branches, even those that have been improved.

IIIMP must look into the issue of pumping hours. Under the IIP this was designed for 16 hours per day. This could have been 22 or 20 hours per day and the pump size decreased, thus reducing capital costs, which must be recovered from the users over a long amortization period.

As these facilities were developed about ten years ago, the water abstraction pattern in the already improved areas should be reviewed, along with the improved facilities, and improved accordingly.

In the project area, drainage improvements are mainly rehabilitation works. This is because the largest part of the Mahmoudia command area has already been covered by a subsurface drainage system.

Intermediate or local drainage reuse (pumping water from the branch drain into the branch canal) is a critical management issue in the project command area. It could contribute to pollution control as pollutants accumulate in the main drain. Highly trained operators are needed to manage water quality at the basic hydraulic level and sufficient infrastructure installed for pumping and measurement. There are a few reuse options such as main level reuse (currently practised), intermediate reuse and localized reuse (the latter are under discussion).

Environmental aspects

The mixing of drainage water with canal water (Khandak drain and East Khandak canal and branches) is said to be carried out according to the water levels and water quality in the drain. Probably other parameters, such as extent of pollution, should be considered in the daily operation of the drainage mixing procedures.

Canals distributing water inside residential areas is still subject to debate. Those against this practice see this as a time-bomb as it is foreseen that the canal may be blocked by dead animals or tree trunks. Users are well aware of this issue and participate in keeping the canal or public mesqa free of this clogging. In addition, all concerned bodies must cooperate with the water users to create a mechanism for garbage collection and disposal outside the housing areas. The local government units should play the leading role in this regard, and it does not. Both entities should cooperate in finding an integrated solution to this problem.

Water quality in Lake Edku may be an issue. Water quality in Edku drain may jeopardize the lake's water quality, subsequently threatening the fish population. IIIMP should investigate this issue during integrated planning of the required interventions in the project area.

It is suggested that electric pumps be introduced in the IIIMP areas, instead of the currently used diesel pumps. The cost of both types is not very different, but the environmental impact is considerable; electric pumps generate cleaner energy.

Socio-economic aspects

It was reported that 70-80 percent of farmers in the Mahmoudia area are small-scale landholders of about one feddan or less. The investors in Edku town/village have proven that water can be used in various ways for different purposes. Fruit and vegetable growers use water for cultivation, and then water is used for fish farming for a wide variety of fish species. Fish farmers seem to be very knowledgeable and experienced. It is estimated that one feddan of fish farming produces about 2 tonnes of fish per year. Based on the team's observations, and statements from the people met, this is above and beyond the social dimension of creating job opportunities and attaining food security for the poor in the area. The team was unable to collect data and conduct the relevant analysis as, given the limited period of the study, it was not conducted in depth.

IIIMP is foreseen as a multi-functional project, aiming to attain holistic development in the project area on the grounds that water resources management and agriculture are the main activities for development of a rural area. Within this context, sanitation and drinking water supply could be improved under the IIIMP, with the involvement of concerned agencies in addition to MWRI and MALR.

Institutional aspects

The mission reported on the lack of coordination between MWRI organizations with respect to planning and implementation of physical interventions at the governorate level. Examples are the destruction of some subsurface drainage systems when IIP was implementing the physical improvements in the Mahmoudia command area. Effective coordination was suggested and expected to be attained under the IIIMP.

Bisintway canal water board within the Mahmoudia command area gives the impression of a well-performing user organization. Some important issues have been tackled, other than water distribution such as sanitation and garbage disposal. The water boards have a number of high expectations from MWRI; the goal is to advance such water boards to become self-reliant with regard to several managerial outlooks. More effort is required to raise awareness and provide training to attain this self-reliance.

The plan called "Urgent Plan", financed by the governorate in the different disciplines, plays an important role in complementing the efforts of MWRI. This is carried out in the same manner as other ministries that serve the water management sector as well as other sectors in society. Important structures, across and along the watercourses, have been implemented under this plan, which has contributed to improving sanitation status and drinking water supply. There remain some important actions to be taken together by all stakeholders to achieve the integrated planning and implementation of the IIIMP.

At the branch canal level there are different models of water user organizations that have been developed and implemented by the WBP, IIP and CDIAS (water boards and branch canal water user associations). Basically, both models have similarities, though it would be better to standardize terminologies, mandate and function so as to avoid confusing the water management agency as well as the users.

Farmers reported that they have never been consulted on the type of improvements carried out under the IIP. The IIIMP should be more effective in developing a well-tailored mechanism for public consultation that includes all stakeholders in the project command areas, not only farmers.

REFERENCES

Advisory Panel Project on Water Management and Drainage. 1999. Incorporation of gender in the MPWWR, APP Central Office, Cairo, 27/10/1999.

Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MoALR). 2004. Economic Affairs Sector, Central Administration for Agricultural Economics, General Directorate for Agricultural Census, Cairo, Egypt. Results of agricultural census for the year 1999-2000, Beheira governorate.

MPWWR, USAID, Agricultural Policy Reform Programme. 1998. Egypt's Irrigation Improvement Program, APRP-Water Policy Reform Activity Task Order 807, Report No. 7, Cairo, June 1998.