Allocating contested water A case study on the (nonĉ) compliance with Environmental Water Allocations in the Sand subĉcatchment, South Africa M.Sc. Thesis by Jan Willem Agterkamp August 2009 Irrigation and Water Engineering Group Picture on cover page: Abstraction weir at Mutlumuvhi River for New Forest irrigation scheme Allocating contested Water A case study on the (nonĉ)compliance with Environmental Water Allocations in the Sand subĉcatchment, South Africa Master thesis Irrigation and Water Engineering submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Science in International Land and Water Management at Wageningen University, the Netherlands Jan Willem Agterkamp August 2009 Supervisors: Dr. Alex Bolding Dr. Sharon Pollard Dr. Flip Wester Irrigation and Water Engineering Group Association for Water And Centre for Water and Climate Rural Development Wageningen University Acornhoek The Netherlands South Africa www.iwe.wur.nl/uk www.award.org.za Contact details: Jan Willem Agterkamp 0031653641116
[email protected] Table of Contents List of Figures vii List of Tables vii List of Boxes vii List of Pictures vii Summary ix List of abbreviations x Acknowledgments xi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The research 1 1.2 Background of the research 1 1.3 Problem definition 7 1.4 Research objectives 9 1.5 Research question 9 1.6 Relevance of the research 10 1.7 Overview of the thesis 10 2 Conceptual framework and methodology 11 2.1 Water management is a sociotechnical phenomenon 11 2.2 Water management practices 12 2.3 Water is politics 16 2.4