Just Water Allocation in the Dulcepamba Watershed
Water Needs Assessment for the
Dulcepamba Farming Communities
The Dulcepamba Project is carrying out a technical study to generate hydrological, agricultural, environmental, and socioeconomic data that will inform decision making and solution-building around this water access conflicts.
This study is the result of a request from the farmers of the region who have identified the need to quantify the current total volume of available water in the watershed, the current volume needed to sustain local livelihoods, and the potential effects on local and national Food Sovereignty that loss of access to water in this region would generate.
Residents of the affected communities will use water supply and water needs data generated from this study to apply for water adjudications that will legally affirm their human right to water. We will also train members of the 140 local communities to use crop water demand data to better plan water use in the region, and to improve irrigation efficiency. Finally, we will provide the data to local, regional, and national decision makers to help inform their water allocation and planning decisions.
We hope that a reliable assessment of water availability, crop water needs, and effects on Food Sovereignty will allow for constructive negotiations around water conflicts to occur.
Water Supply Data
No reliable or comprehensive hydrological study has yet been carried out in this watershed. So, to understand how much water is available in the watershed, we are carrying out an in-depth hydrological study.
We regularly measure stream discharge at eight strategic points throughout the watershed, and we are keeping track of stage changes in each principal river or tributary on a daily or weekly basis, with the help of local farmers.
Water Needs Data
With the support of the University of Maryland faculty and students, we have strategically located four internet-enabled weather stations in different communities in the watershed to quantify microclimatic weather and rainfall. Using the Penman-Monteith approach, we have used weather station data to accurately estimate crop water need for the watershed's 8 principal crops. We are then using smart tools such as GIS mapping, and aerial/LANDSAT imagery to scale-up crop water demand estimates to the whole watershed level. This will allow us to understand the water needs of commonly grown crops in the entire watershed, especially during the summer dry season, when farmers need to irrigate. We will soon begin to disseminate this information widely within the communities.
Agricultural-Economic Surveys
We have administered agricultural-economic surveys throughout the watershed to better understand the distribution of crops, the irrigation water demands for those crops, and the potential economic losses (the effects on Food Sovereignty) that will occur if farmers lose access to their water.
We have surveyed a representative 10% of the families in the watershed, and have published preliminary results in the form of a master's thesis written in partial fulfillment of a Masters of Science degree in Environment and Development at the London School of Economics.