Water Management Lesson: A Case Study of Khao Sam Sip Reservoir Irrigation Area Khao Chakan District, Sa Kaeo Province

Abstract

Sa Kaeo is one of the provinces having large agricultural land use in the eastern region. Most of the water agricultural use is from the rain. Only some parts ate in the irrigated area, which requires good water management in order to achieve efficient use of water and not cause conflicts. The Khlong Sam sip Reservoir irrigation area is an area that the Sa Kaeo Irrigation Project allocated to former residents before the reservoir was developed. Those allocated have formed a water user group to manage the water allocated from the irrigation project and has strong group management. There are no problems or conflicts in water management. Therefore, the Khlong Sam sip Reservoir irrigation area was selected as the study area to evaluate the development of water management and extract lessons from the success of water management by using qualitative research methods with in-depth interviews. The sample group was Irrigation water management group committee Khlong Sam Sip Reservoir, 10 people. The results showed that water management in the initial stage was supported by the Sa Kaeo Irrigation Project in terms of establishing a group of irrigation users and the amount of irrigation water that could be used in each year making it possible to plan water use. Later, a group of water users transformed to the water user organization. The committee was selected to perform administrative functions. Based on our findings, stakeholders in water management could be divided into 5 groups: water users, researcher/academician, local government, Sa Kaeo Irrigation Project and the Royal Forest Department, each of which had a role to play, attention level and different levels of influence on water management. The group with the highest level of interest was the water user group. And the group that had the most influence was the irrigation project since it is the agency responsible for the supply and delivery of water according to the assigned mission and duties. The success factors of water management were structure and strength of the integration and management and data support from the Sa Kaeo Provincial Irrigation Project. The limiting factors of consisted of the skills and budget for maintaining water distribution systems and equipment, the knowledge to forecast and assess water needs in crises as well as to formulate response measures.