Institutional Change in Water Rights in China: A Study of Water Rights Confirmation and Registration in Delingha City

Abstract

To achieve the transformation of water rights institution in China from the administrative management to the property rights institution, it is of high significance to discuss the principle of rights confirmation, institution connection, and change. In this paper, we present the process, result, experience, and problems of the authors’ involvement in water rights confirmation and registration in Delingha as the methods designer of water rights confirmation. The conclusions of this paper follow: (1) Equity must be the priority while considering the principles of water rights confirmation. Complying and verifying the results of historical water distribution, strengthening public participation, and selecting persuasive and scientific indicators are the main components that are embodied in the concept of equity. (2) Water rights confirmation is to recognize and revise the distribution result of the old institution. Macroscopically, based on the administrative upper limits set by the “Three Red Lines” and ecologically sustainable requirements, the dual-control method of “matching water use and the Three Red Lines” and “matching water consumption and available water resources” was used to control the total distribution of water rights. From a microscopic point of view, the water abstraction permit was the core indicator of water rights confirmation, after checking with other data. (3) The institutional logic, the responsibilities and roles of the government, and the intellection of water users have changed after the confirmation of water rights. Registration is the key to distinguishing water rights from the traditional administrative institution.