Assessing the role of property rights in managing water demand: the case of Umgeni River catchment

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of property rights in managing water demands from a catchment or basin perspective by focusing on defined property rights dimensions. The research resulted from the realisation that water demands are escalating increasingly in various river basins as a result of the improved living standards, population growth, industrial expansion and increase in agricultural activities, such as irrigation, while water resources availability continue to dwindle. While research efforts have indeed advanced in water demand management, most of this study places its focus on residential or domestic water demands and economic instruments such as pricing. Efforts to study the response of water users to property rights institutions in water resource utilisation have been insignificant. The foremost argument being presented in this study is that resource users do respond to incentives, and those incentives are influenced by the presence of a property rights structure. In addition, there has been overwhelming research in the field of property rights in natural resource and land use, which has been found to be vital in controlling and managing the utilisation of these resources. Using the property rights theory, the thesis has investigated the existence of relationships between attributes of property rights and intentions of water users to conserve water, invest in the improvement of the water resource infrastructure, and protect the water resource. The study employed a case study approach in the Umgeni River catchment Area in the KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. A survey questionnaire was administered among 146 water users in the catchment who comprised irrigation farmers, livestock farmers and commercial water users, and some interviews were conducted with officials from the Department of Water Affairs. The collected data were analysed using the IBM SPSS software, where descriptive and inferential statistics were utilised to draw some significant relationships. The evidence obtained in this study indicates that property rights would be highly significant in curtailing water demands in a catchment by acting as incentives in water resource utilisation, specifically by first motivating water users to conserve water. In addition, the results revealed significant relationships between property rights attributes duration, enforcement and transferability with the intentions of water users investing in the improvement of water resource infrastructure on their properties. From this study, it was evident that water users would be very motivated to protect the water resource that they use if they have strong enforcement mechanisms for their property right. These results would be hugely significant in the management of water demands as the design of property rights would be used as incentives in order to curtail water demands, especially in a basin context.