THE IRRIGATION WATER USERS’ ASSOCIATIONS IN NORTH BRĂILA TERRACE AREA

Abstract

In Romania, the Irrigation Water Users’ Associations (IWUA) concept was set up in order to diminish competition in relation to the access to and utilization of irrigation water, as well as to facilitate the transfer to end users (farmers) of the administration and utilization mode of the existing intermediary and final land improvement infrastructure, the public utility facilities (water accumulations, main canals, pumping stations) being managed by the National Land Improvement Agency (NLIA). The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the institutional and legal framework under which the IWUAs from Brăila county carry out their activity; in this area, the largest part of the irrigation system built up in the communist period is still working, unlike the situation in other counties from Romania, where both the water pumping stations and the water delivery canals have been almost completely destroyed.