Investigating the Participation of Beneficiaries in Optimizing Water Use Management (Case Study: Qazvin Plain Irrigation Networks)

Organising beneficiaries and producers with legal rights in water bodies is one of the main strategies in the field of water exploitation. In this research, the transfer of management of water exploitation and maintenance of water facilities in the Qazvin Plain, which has modern irrigation networks, has been analysed. The positive and negative points of this management transfer, as well as the problems and failures in the transfer, the technical solutions and suggestions have been identified and presented through field visits and surveys of the representatives of farmers and experts of the water supply. With the development of participatory irrigation management in this network, results such as simplifying the administrative and executive affairs, reducing government ownership, saving time, applying local management, reducing the transmission and distribution losses, and creating employment were achieved. Problems such as the lack of convergence between state institutions, the existence of monopolies in the bodies of some organisations, the lack of transparency in how to collect water, the lack of proper communication between farmers and the centre, lack of transparency and interaction between farmers and governmental organisations, the lack of clear legal capacity, lack of credibility, failure to identify incentives to reduce costs for operators, lack of extension and training activities are investigated in this study.