Rules rather than rights: self-regulation in intensively used groundwater systems

This chapter reviews the scope for self-regulation in intensively used groundwater systems. It brings together a number of examples of local management of groundwater from various socio-political backgrounds: Pakistan, India, Egypt and Mexico. The examples are few and far between and show a mix of failure and success in demand and supply management of groundwater. Yet in the cases where self-regulation has worked, it has often been the only thing that did so. The examples also show that –in contrast to conventional policy recommendations-effective groundwater management can occur without quantified groundwater rights and without central regulatory power. To support self-regulation, either as a complement or alternative to central regulation, the chapter makes the case for bridging the knowledge gap –making hydrology less esoteric-and casting the net wide in awareness building, increasing the chance of finding local champions and movers and shakers. The chapter also recommends enabling rather than regulatory legal frameworks to underpin local management; the promotion of demand and supply management measures (for which there often is still considerable scope) and more emphasis on the local protection of groundwater quality.