Sharing Mountain Water

Sociologist Ujjwal Pradhan takes a look at the give-and-take among the villagers of two hamlets in Central Nepal as they jockey for rights to precious irrigation water.

South of the town of Tansen, near the Kali Gandaki river, there are four Magar villages which are tied together in their dependence on the Barangdi rivulet. From upstream to downstream, they are Taplek, Pokhariya, Cherlung and Artunga.

In 1928, Cherlung villagers financed the building of Thulo Kulo (kulo = canal). As partial compensation for right of way, they agreed to give some water to the two upper villages, but not nearly as much as the latter wanted. The single canal could not irrigate both the upper and lower villages, so a second canal, Tallo Kulo, was built in 1938 to provide water for Taplek and Pokhariya.

In 1978, the District Panchayat approved a project to extend Tallo Kulo all the way to Artunga, which had thus far remained out of the picture. The extension project was supervised by the Panchayat and Local Development Ministry. A meeting was held between the canal members of Cherlung, future beneficiaries of Artunga, the Village and District Panchayat members, and the engineer who had carried out the survey. A "Cherlung-Artunga Irrigation Reconstruction Canal Committee" was constituted. The District Panchayat was asked to provide for "proper, just allocation" of irrigation water based on land area.

The total cost of the extension was NRs. 150,000, with NRs. 95,000 provided by the District Panchayat and the rest supplied by Cherlung and Artunga in the form of labour. The work was completed in 1981. Then it came time to decide how much water should go to Artunga, and on that touchy issue there was stalemate for over two years between Artunga and Cherlung. (Taplek and Pokhariya wanted to be left alone, maintaining that the dispute was between the two lower villages. The residents of Cherlung purposefully kept the District Panchayat members out of the negotiations.)

The Cherlung villagers maintained that Artunga could take water only after fulfilling the irrigation demands of Cherlung. However, Artunga's irrigators claimed that the development activity had been undertaken for the benefit of all, and that they too had contributed to the project. They had as much land as Cherlung, and so were entitled to at least one quarter if not a third of the water supply.

For their part, Cherlung residents felt that for nearly half a century, they had given their sweat and toil, life and risks, money and labour for the system. It was a private kulo, not a state constructed one. It was thus quite inappropriate for Cherlung to give water to Artunga "simply because of some development programme". Cherlung felt that it had a duty to take all measures to safeguard its ownership of the canal system.

If an unambiguous formal agreement had been made at the outset, the two years of deadlock would have been avoided. The dispute had its origins in the water allocation clause, which had been kept deliberately flexible by the members of the District Panchayat. They had tried to keep everyone happy in the short term. Artunga residents were kept at bay by letting them know that until other projects materialized they were entitled to the water. Cherlung's villagers were pleased when they heard that "some water must be given but of course they could not give too much".

Finally, in 1983, an agreement was reached, which stipulated that the grant from the District Panchayat and labour contribution of Artunga irrigators now entitled Artunga to be canal co-shareholders. The water that arrived in Cherlung was divided into 59 units, with four units of this to be given to Artunga. Under the agreement, Artunga was to provide 16 labourers during maintenance work for the four units of water. But Cherlung was to provide only one labourer per unit of water.

The residents of Artunga were to allocate the four units amongst themselves and register their individual water rights with the Canal Committee. If Artunga wanted to increase its share, it could purchase water from Cherlung at the going price. If Artunga managed to arrange for a separate canal, it would have to unconditionally forego the four units of water.

An effective organization, controlled and operated mainly by the Cherlung members, today manages the Thulo Kulo arid Tallo Kulo system.

Ujjwal Pradhan is a Nepali researcher specializing in rural sociology.