Chapter
8:
Case
studies
in
Wadi
Siham
8.3
Case
5:
Person
82
versus
Person
83
along
Waqir
main
canal
3
8.3.1
B:
Conflict
description
and
stakeholder
analysis
Waqir
Irrigation
System
(WIS)
was
established
in
the
early
1990s
to
supply
water
to
approximately
3,448ha
previously
irrigated
by
traditional
sandy
barriers.
Three
canals
were
to
have
their
inlets
after
the
main
intake:
WMC1,
WMC3
(which
crosses
the
wadi
through
a
culvert
and
flows
on
the
left
bank)
and
WSC.
However,
the
system
was
poorly
designed
and
implemented.
Several
issues
were
raised
by
both
farmers
and
TDA
engineers:
under-‐dimensioning
of
Waqir’s
dam,
and
its
wrong
location;
WMC1
is
lower
than
the
fields
and
of
low
capacity.
WMC3
has
no
secondary
canals,
only
few
gates,
and
a
low
capacity.
Besides
that,
the
initial
design
did
not
include
an
area
of
land
upstream
at
the
head
of
WMC3,
so
that
several
farmers
did
not
have
access
to
canal
water.
To
make
up
for
this,
the
Tihama
Development
Authority
(TDA)
constructed
a
new
gate
in
2006
located
next
to
the
inlet
to
WMC3
to
irrigate
these
areas.
Because
of
low
capacity
at
the
headworks,
to
let
enough
water
flowing
through
the
gate,
the
TDA
put
a
large
wooden
plank
to
block
part
of
the
head
gate
of
WMC3
(Figure
8.4).
The
gate
of
WMC3
supplies
the
lands
of
one
of
these
farmers
whom
we
will
call
person
82.
Figure
8.4:
The
wooden
plank
used
to
divert
water
to
the
gate
that
takes
some
floodwater
to
person
82
Yet
when
a
road
was
built
parallel
to
the
main
canal,
a
new
problem
arose.
Due
to
the
lack
of
coordination
between
the
TDA
and
the
road
contractor,
the
road
was
built
too
high
causing
the
culvert
underneath
the
road,
connecting
the
canal
to
the
fields
of
person
82,
to
be
lower
than
the
field
outlet,
which
prevented
an
adequate
water
supply
to
its
fields.
The
technical
problem
was
exacerbated
by
the
deposition
of
sediments
in
the
fields,
thus
raising
their
level
even
more
relative
to
the
canal
bed
(Figure
8.5).
The Political Economy in Yemen of Water Management: Conflict Analysis and Recommendations
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