Water allocation principles in catchment areas: some notes on constraints and opportunities

The premise of this chapter is that the technical works and the legal- institutional arrangements need to be in accord. The chapter will first present experiences from two different catchments. The situations in these catchments differ with respect to (a) the rights to water the respective users hold, and (b) the physical infrastructure with which water is diverted from the river and put to agricultural use. In the discussion section I will attempt to draw lessons from the two case descriptions, the guiding question being: are the present ways of allocation (by means of formal or informal rights) and distribution (by means of hydraulic structures) of a river's water the best under the prevailing climatic, hydro logic and sociopolitical conditions?

A research paper on the matrix of water allocation in Zimbabwe's smallholder rural farming catchment areas.