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The evolution of water management in Latin

America
a
Terence Lee
a
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ,
Santiago, Chile
Published online: 02 May 2007.

To cite this article: Terence Lee (1988) The evolution of water management in Latin America, International
Journal of Water Resources Development, 4:3, 160-168, DOI: 10.1080/07900628808722386

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 The evolution of water
management in Latin America

Terence Lee

This article examines the state of water management in Latin America within the
context of both its historical development and current practice. Emphasis is placed
on those factors which have inhibited the adoption of efficient management
practices. Suggestions are made for improvement in water management through
Downloaded by [University of Cambridge] at 09:23 01 January 2015

the better preparation of managers.

In the quest for growth, for higher levels of income
and improved standards of living, the peoples of
Latin America have given considerable attention to
the harnessing of the water resource. Since 1945, for
example, the volume of water held in reservoirs, a
useful if imprecise index, has increased more than
twentyfold (ECLAC, 1985). Similar growth has
occurred in the area of land under irrigation, in the
generation of hydroelectricity and in the supply of
water to population and industry. In general, the
regulation and control of river flows has increased to
such an extent that now even the largest river
systems are subject to considerable modification of
their natural regimes.
After such a major expansion in the effort to
benefit from the large natural endowment in water
of the region, a stocktaking has begun, in most
countries, of the effectiveness of the management of
the systems that have been built. There is a concern
that the gains anticipated from this investment have
not been realized to the extent originally proposed
and expected. This is to say, water systems are not
efficient in the sense that, from the viewpoint of
society as a whole, the use of water is not such as to
maximize present net benefits.
Terence R. Lee is with the United Nations Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean,
Santiago, Chile.
This paper is based on a recent study undertaken by the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean with support
from the Federal Republic of Germany.
Morever, there is criticism that in many water
control projects heavy costs have been incurred at
the expense of alternative environmental opportuni-
ties, costs not justified by the benefits really being
obtained. The perception of the environmental
quality-development paradigm is very different in
Latin America from that commonly found in Europe
and North America (Gómez-Pompa, 1983). Such
criticism is not new, but took on renewed force with
the advent of recession in most countries in the early
1980s.
Outside the confines of water management, in the
discussion of policies to overcome the currently
unfavourable economic situation much emphasis is
being placed on the need to increase the effective-
ness of the management of, and the rate of return
from, investments already made, particularly public
sector investments. Public sector investment and the
role of government in the economy have grown until
very recently in most Latin American countries
(Figure 1). Investments in the control and regulation
of river flows have expanded parallel to, and as part
of, the general expansion of the public sector.
Investments in water-related projects have formed a
large proportion of total public investment. The
crisis perceived in public sector management is
therefore of considerable relevance to the manage-
ment of the water resource. Equally, the size of
water-related investment means that improvement
in the performance of water-related projects could
have an important impact on the performance of the
public sector as a whole.

160 0790-0627/88/030160-09$03.00 © 1988 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd

 The evolution of water management in Latin America: Terence Lee

Nicaragua
most recent are shown in Figure 2, but the
Chile
inheritance from earlier periods cannot be ignored if
Mexico
the present situation is to be seen in perspective.
Venezuela
Social control of the use of the water resource in
Costa Rica fff Latin America considerably predates the arrival of
Uruguay ffff European colonizers in the 15th century. The
Argentina
control of water use in pre-Columbian societies was
Brazil
a significant public activity which formed a fun-
damental part of the instutional structure of these
Haiti societies. The Spanish colonizers gave importance to
El Salvador ^ffffffffff* the social control of water use, but replaced
Dominican Rep. pre-Columbian norms with methods brought from
Ecuador 1972 Spain based on the Roman and Moorish traditions.
Guatemala 1983
The idea of water management is far from new,
Paraguay therefore, in many parts of the region. There exist
Bolivia traditions of social control of the water resource
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which go back hundreds of years.

0 10 20 30 10 50 The modern development of water management
% Gross National Product
Figure 1. Central government expenditure.
(Source: World Bank). Codification of water laws
1900 -
Despite the high level of concern for reform of
public sector management, there are no generally
accepted opinions on what reforms will achieve
1910 -
improvement in management performance, either in
the public sector in general, or in the field of water
Special- Individual
resources in particular. There are, to be sure, many
opinions advanced as to the reasons for the poor 1920 - purpose water management
performance of the institutions of the water sector as actions
agencies
managers of large public investments. Equally, there
are numerous proposals of reform including the 1930 -
transfer of the maximum of economic activities in
the public sector to private ownership, the decentral-
ization of government away from the centre, the
19U0 -
creation of autonomous public corporations not tied
to the bureaucratic traditions and norms of the civil
service, and many more. It is possible to find
examples of the application to water resources 1950 -
Regionwide development of
management of almost all the reforms that are being
single purpose institutions
proposed. The results obtained, although not always
at national level
insignificant, have not been such, however, as to 1960 -
suggest that any general solution has been found to
Use of
the problem of the low productivity of most water
multiple-
resource management systems in the region (Ham- 1970 -
mergren, 1983; Motta, 1984). purpose
river
basin
The origins of water management in Latin 1980 - Decentralization authorities
of
America water management
The present state of water resource management
systems in the region is a product of the historical
evolution of the administration of the water re- Regional extent of management mode
source. This can be divided into distinct periods. The Figure 2. Stages of water management.

WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 Number 3 September 1988 161

 The evolution of water management in Latin America: Terence Lee
began with the consolidation of institutions and the
adoption of formal constitutions following independ-
ence. These constitutions did not, of themselves,
give institutional form to modern notions of water
management, but they did give consideration to
jurisdiction over the water resource and, therefore,
lay the foundation. One early example is the
Argentinian constitution of 1853 in which it was
established that the right of dominion over water
belonged to the provinces with the exceptions of
interprovincial river navigation and transport, the
use of water in mines and the definition of the legal
nature of water under the Civil Code. The provinces
were provided, therefore, with ample powers within
which water management institutions could be
developed. However, only one province, Mendoza,
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took early advantage of this circumstance (Lopez,
1975). In contrast with Argentina, in Mexico the
constitution of 1917 gave dominion over all water
resources to the federal government, leaving to the
provinces the right to legislate over only those water
resources not defined as pertaining to the federal
government (Lopez, 1975). In the early water laws,
both in the case of the unitary states such as Chile,
Peru and Bolivia, as well as in the federal states, a
clear distinction was made between public and
private rights, a distinction inherited from the
original Spanish and Portuguese legislation and
reinforced by the promulgation of civil codes
drawing heavily on the Napoleonic Code (Lopez,
1975). Only in Brazil was the principal of riparian
rights followed. The 1917 Mexican constitution
created another exception, allocating significant
rights to the ejido, the particular agricultural
property form established in Mexico after the
revolution. Despite these variations, the constitu-
tions of the independent countries of Latin America
establish a clear right of public intervention in the
management of the water resource.
The constitutional establishment of the right of
public intervention in the 19th century was not
immediately followed by the formation of institu-
tions specifically charged with water management.
Such institutions are, in general, of much more
recent origin. Two institutions can be identified,
however, as marking early significant steps in the
evolution of water management in the region
although not specifically acting as models for the
region as a whole. These institutions are the
Inspetoria de Obras Contra as Secas, the forerunner
of the Departamento Nacional de Obras Contra as
Secas (DNOCS) of Brazil and the Departamento
General di Irrigacion (DGI) of the province of
Mendoza, Argentina. The founding of both institu-
tions dates from the beginning of this century
162 WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 Number 3 September 1988
althought the founding of the Departamento Gener-
al de Irrigacion, in Mendoza, was the final act in a
process which began much earlier.
Neither institution was originally intended to be
responsible for water management in the modern
sense, but both were water institutions marked from
the beginning by the application of scientific and
technological knowledge in their work. The original
objectives and functions of both institutions were
limited to specific aspects of the use of water.
The founding of these two institutions, if marking
a new stage in the history of water management in
Latin America, was not a harbinger of any
regionwide change in water management practice.
In general, specific water resource institutions were
not founded until 30 years later when the influence
of multilateral and international instututions began
to be important. Emphasis, even then, was placed
on the formation of institutions to develop and
administer specific water uses, particularly the
generation of hydroelectricity and water supply,
rather than on institutions with more comprehensive
objectives for the development of the resource.
The institutionalization of water
management
Until the 1920s in Latin America water resource
institutions were typically local and restricted in
function. The most common examples are the
municipal water supply company, the association of
water users using the same water course as a source
of irrigation, and, by the end of the 19th century, the
private hydroelectric power company. In the 1920s
these local institutions, whether municipal or pri-
vate, began to be supplemented or supplanted by
public institutions with wider geographic, often
national, responsibilities.
An early example can be seen in the Comision
Nacional de Irrigacion of Mexico, founded in 1926
and charged with the construction of large-scale
irrigation works and the related large dams. Ten
years later the Comision Federal de Electricidad was
established to undertake the construction of large
generating plants. These two institutions remained
the dominant water institutions until the late 1940s
and laid the foundation for the emergence of a
tradition of public water administration at the
federal level of government in Mexico.
In most countries of the region, and for most uses,
the consolidation of single-purpose water manage-
ment institutions is a much more recent phenome-
non. In Argentina, for example, the founding of
national agencies responsible for water resources did
not occur until the later 1940s. In other countries the
 The evolution of water management in Latin America: Terence Lee
formation of national institutions was not consoli-
dated until the 1960s.
The process of forming national single-purpose
institutions was not completed before other influ-
ences in the organization of water management were
felt and the nature of the emerging institutionality
changed. For example, in Argentina the consolida-
tion of federal single-purpose institutions was
reversed as a strong decentralization policy was
adopted, transferring responsibility back to the
provinces. As a result, single-purpose provincial
institutions now dominate water management in
Argentina. In other countries, however, the process
of forming single-purpose national institutions still
continues, for example in Brazil, although in some
cases it accompanies the- introduction of other
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modalities of water management.
Foreign influences over water management be-
came significant to the evolution of policy with the
re-establishment, on a very different scale, of the
international and regional financial and develop-
ment agencies following the Second World War. The
activities of these agencies began to reach a
significant scale and level of influence by the early
1950s and accompanied a new stage in the develop-
ment of water management in Latin America.
Water management as a means for achieving
economic growth
If there is one point on which the countries of Latin
America can be seen to have reached some
agreement, it is in the use of water management as a
tool to achieve economic development and the need,
therefore, for formal institutional systems for water
within the public sector. Water resource projects
have played a prominent role in efforts to increase
productivity, either directly through irrigation or
indirectly through the generation of hydroelectricity.
It has been this need which has led to the
establishment of technically competent use-oriented
institutions. The institutional structures which have
been built up in the attempt to achieve technical
competence show considerable variation among the
countries of the region. Some variation can be
expected in a region which includes countries as
disparate as Belize and Brazil. The differences, in
part, can be ascribed to variations in the scale and
complexity of the water management problem. Part
of the explanation lies in the variations to be
anticipated between federal and unitary states. Part
must be ascribed, however, to the eclectic adoption
of foreign influences in the formation of national
systems of public institutions.
After the end of the Second World War, under the
WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 Number 3 September 1988
influence of the newly founded international finan-
cial and development institutions the governments
of the countries of Latin America began to use
public investments in water projects as means of
achieving economic development. Not surprisingly,
the new view of the place of water projects in
government and the adoption of a much larger role
for government in the different national economies
led to changes in the perception of the nature of the
institutions required for the administration of water
resource development projects.
The first specifically designated water manage-
ment institution founded at the national level was
the Mexican Secretaria de Recursos Hidraulicas
(SRH), founded in 1948. The SRH had from its
initiation very wide competence over the water
resource, having responsibility for all water uses,
with the exception of the generation of hydroelec-
tricity, and possessing authority for the planning of
the use of water, the operation of water resource
systems and the concession of water rights or
licences for the whole of Mexico. Many other
countries have created similar institutions, but the
SRH has remained the most powerful of all the
water management institutions in the region. Its
political pre-eminence has not been emulated in
other countries, not even in those with the most
centralized unitary governments. The absence of
similar institutions in other countries of the region
serves to underline the special nature of institutional
developments in Mexico. Only Cuba, again a very
special case, has created such a centralized agency,
but with a lesser area of competence than the SRH.
In most countries the tendency to form special
institutions charged with the management of specific
tasks continued. Some of these, following the model
of the Tennessee Valley Authority, were established
as river basin authorities. Early examples include the
Comisfon de Santiago Lerma-Chapala in Mexico, set
up in 1950, and the Superintendencia del Valle de
Sao Francisco in Brazil, founded in 1948. The
majority, however, were charged with the manage-
ment of a specific use, such as irrigation or water
supply, for the whole country or for a particular
region.
During the two decades after 1950, following the
models advanced by the international agencies,
centralized single-purpose institutions were consoli-
dated throughout the region with responsibility for
specific water uses: hydroelectricity, irrigation and
drinking water supply and sanitation. Other institu-
tions were created with responsibility for water
resource assessment, water quality and, perhaps,
some form of coordination device. The rate of
institutional change and development among coun-
163
 The evolution of water management in Latin America: Terence Lee
tries was unequal and some went further in the
adoption of these new institutional arrangements
than others. In some countries, most notably
Colombia, river agencies have been adopted as a
management form, but with limited powers or for
very special situations.
There are few, if any, genuine examples of
institutions possessing a multipurpose viewpoint or
an interest in the resource itself, rather than in the
use to which it may be put. This is not surprising in
societies where the prime social goal remains the
raising of productivity. It is the force of this reality
which has prevented the foreign ideas of resource-
oriented and multipurpose management, brought in
through the activities of the international agencies,
having more than very limited influence. This
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circumstance is confirmed by the experiences of
those agencies trying to introduce greater considera-
tion of the environmental effects of water manage-
ment activities (ECLAC, 1979).
In summing up, it can be said that the countries of
Latin America demonstrate a general prevailing
style of water management which is characterized by
strong public intervention and heavy dependence on
technological solutions. This style of management
was designed to maximize the use of the water
resource for the achievement of economic growth.
In itself, the discussion of developments in the
area of national policies towards water management
provides only one viewpoint of the state of water
management in the region. Limiting the discussion
to the national level of government can only give a
partial picture of the development in water manage-
ment practice. It is necessary also to evaluate what is
actually happening at the river basin and water
system level. National policy may not have the
impact expected on the actual practice of manage-
ment. National policy can be, and is, divorced from
the reality in the field. It may be based on
assumptions that are far from realistic. It is essential
to grasp this reality if the evolution of water
management in the region is to be understood in its
proper perspective.
Factors affecting the management of water
systems
In assessing actual management experience there is a
need to distinguish between those factors influencing
the character of management which might be
considered external to the water management
system and those which are clearly internal. This
particular distinction has to be made to isolate, in
evaluating the performance of the management of
water systems, those elements which management
164 WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 Number 3 September 1988
can be expected to control directly from external
happenings, whether natural events or changes in
the general economic and social climate.
External factors
The most important external factors which have
been observed to affect the management of water
systems are the overall nature and stability of
government policies, above all economic policies
influencing the use of water, especially in irrigation,
instability in administrative structures, and natural
events such as droughts and floods. Obviously, the
relative importance of each of these factors varies
among water systems, but the influence of all of
those enumerated is probably felt in all water
systems in the region.
External factors influencing management per-
formance can have both positive and negative effects
and some may even have positive and negative
impacts at the same time. Even favourable natural
conditions such as a succession of wet years may not
bring only positive results through the increased
crops and incomes. For example, in the Tinajones
irrigation system in Peru the humid conditions
prevalent between 1970 and 1976 permitted the
expansion of rice cultivation far beyond the long-
term capacity of the system. It also led to a serious
expansion of the area under irrigation subject to
salinization.
Any management system receives a constant
stream of external influences which affect the
internal decision-making environment. It is obvious-
ly a task of management to adapt the running of the
water system to these changing external circumst-
ances, but often the freedom of water managers to
adjust their policies has been very restricted.
Autonomy of action is not a characteristic of water
management systems in Latin America. The lack of
autonomy can have a serious debilitating influence
on the efficiency of water management.
Even such a brief review of the more important
external factors affecting management of water
systems clearly establishes their significance. It
shows, however, that of themselves external factors
cannot explain the totality of the general state of
water management. The internal factors affecting
the management system have also to be evaluated if
the contemporary state of water management is to
be more completely understood.
Internal factors
Four case studies of specific water management
systems chosen as representative of contemporary
management situations show a common set of
internal characteristics. The four case studies were:
 The evolution of water management in Latin America: Terence Lee
(i) irrigation in the province of Mendoza, Argen-
tina;
(ii) water management and regional development
in the Rio Bogota valley, Colombia;
(iii) the Tinajones irrigation project, Lambay-
eque, Peru;
(iv) water management in the valley of the Rio
Limari.
The outstanding characteristics of the management
of these systems can be described as follows:
(i) vagueness in the decision-making system,
commonly resulting in excessive slowness in
reacting to management issues;
(ii) reductionism, or a tendency to reduce the
definition of the water management system to
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the construction of physical water control and
distribution works;
(iii) a preoccupation with the solution of immedi-
ate, short-run and local issues at the cost of a
longer view of operational and economic
efficiency;
(iv) the adoption of a generally passive manage-
ment style;
(v) the maintenance of inappropriate or obsolete
management structures and practices;
(vi) a need to fully consider, particularly in
irrigation projects, that water systems are
important social institutions as well as pro-
ductive enterprises;
(vii) the absence of internal dynamism in the
management systems.
Clearly, this set of observations does not cover all
aspects of the issues normally considered to be
currently facing water management in Latin Amer-
ica. The cases studies were chosen and the
evaluations were structured, however, so as to
emphasize the characteristics of management prac-
tice, not the efficiency of the use of resources, or the
impact of management actions on the environment,
etc.
Despite the use of a negative turn of phrase in
defining the issues, the case studies showed many
examples of good management. Neither is it
intended to negate the benefits that have been
gained from water systems. The history of the
development of water systems in Latin America
shows large areas of successful achievement. The
very existence of management water systems is,
itself, an eloquent testimony of what has been
achieved and in each case there is ample evidence of
the economic and other benefits generated by the
operation of the system. Equally, however, there is
ample evidence that many issues of management
WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 Number 3 September 1988
remain to be resolved and that there remains much
room for improvement in management practices.
The state of water management
There is no evidence that there is a crisis in water
resource administration in Latin America. Water
resource administration has made and continues to
make progress. The present state of water manage-
ment is far from optimal, however, and many issues
inherent in water system operation are being poorly
handled, even ignored, in the standard running of
the systems. This is commonly the situation, for
example, in respect to the maintenance of infrastruc-
ture, but other aspects of system operation and
management are as seriously disregarded.
It must be recognized, as has been observed, that
many factors which impinge on operations are
external to any reasonable definition of the area of
direct responsibility of water system management.
At the same time the impact of many of these
'external factors' can be mitigated or magnified by
management action. Only too often management
actions, or the lack of them, have magnified rather
than reduced the influence of unfavourable external
conditions.
Water system managers, for example, cannot be
expected to have any significant influence over
economic policies which result in the extremely high
rates of inflation characteristic of the last 25 years in
many countries of the region. Management may be
no more responsible for inflation than it is for wet or
dry years, but it has a responsibility to protect the
water system from negative external impacts. Too
often, however, water managers remain passive in
respect of the impact of inflation on revenues and
operations. In the face of the threats posed by
external forces to the effective operation of the
water system, the passive attitude has very often
been one of the serious lapses of management which
has brought in its train considerable difficulties for
system operation. In particular, inflation not only
reduces financial planning to a theoretical exercise,
but can reduce operations to little more than
attempting to maintain salaries as inflation destroys
the value of revenues.
The combination of such a passive attitude with
other characteristics of management widens the
impact of any particular decision. The results are
never restricted to the immediate negative effects on
operations, but always have repercussions of a more
general significance for the authority and repute of
the management institutions.
Even accepting that there are factors over which
water managers have no direct control does not
165
 The evolution of water management in Latin America: Terence Lee
mean management should be passive towards them.
It appears to be true that the managements of water
systems are rarely passive in response to the impact
of natural events on water systems, although the
damage caused is not always repaired. Equally,
management cannot be passive in the face of
indifferent or short-sighted policies and decisions of
government.
Putting to one side the influences on optimal
water system operation arising from 'external
factors', there still remain many other important
characteristics of mangement which are clearly
internal even to the most reduced definition of water
management. In both the making of decisions and in
their implementation, the institutions of the sector
have not always acted effectively or responded well
to the opportunities available. Again, this suggests a
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general diffidence or passivity in management
attitudes which does not seem to change whatever
the organizational structure of the management
institutions.
It is often commented that, within the water
sector, the quality of management in institutions
responsible for uses of water declines from hydro-
electricity through water supply and sanitation to
irrigation. This relationship was not specifically
considered in the case studies. It is true, however,
that there is evidence to support the contention. The
preparation or training of staff, including managers,
is taken more seriously in both hydroelectric power
and water companies and water supply and sewage
services than in other water management agencies.
In the literature, stress has been placed on
organizational change as the route to be followed to
achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency in water
management. The case studies provide no evidence,
however, of the intrinsic superiority of one organiza-
tional form over another. Various alternative
organizational schemes are shown in the case
studies. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but
no systematic relationships can be identified. There
is some limited indirect evidence that the making of
a clear distinction between responsibility for the
management of the resource, on the one hand, and
the management of use, on the other, could be
beneficial. Interestingly, in proposing the transfer to
the private sector of the English water authorities,
the British government has decided to remove the
resource management responsibilities from them,
reducing them to water supply and sewage utilities
(Economist, 1987). Apart from this significant
innovation, no one institutional structure appears to
be intrinsically preferable to any other or a
consideration of particular concern in the current
state of water management.
166 WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 Number 3 September 1988
The observed difference of performance among
water systems seems to be due, not to organizational
structure, but to the dynamism with which the
management institutions operate. In general,
however, the management institutions in the case
studies do not demonstrate a dynamic style of
management. Water management may not be in
crisis, but some means must be sought by which the
management can be made systematically more
dynamic, more susceptible to change and more
interested in the issues that challenge management,
such as sustainability, productivity and user par-
ticipation. This is undoubtedly the major challenge
presently facing water management in Latin
America.
Improving water management
There is strong evidence that in practice there is no
agreed definition in Latin America as to what is
water management. The evidence provided suggests
that it can be a variety of very different activities.
Water management is interpreted generally as the
management of one or other dominant water use.
Some effort is made to include with the definition of
management the remaining water uses, but neither
very effectively nor systematically. At the same time
the definition of the responsibilities of the water
management institutions can be very different.
There is a need to raise the debate for the
definition of what is understood by water manage-
ment (ECLAC, 1987). Moreover, it is necessary to
direct the debate towards the achievement of a clear
understanding of the difference between the man-
agement of the resource and the management of
water use. The United Nations adopted integrated
river basin development as the basis for the rational
use of the world's rivers 30 years ago without,
however, exploring with any rigour the resource-use
question (United Nations, 1958). No country of
Latin America has yet made integrated basin
development the basis of its water management
policies, not even those countries which have
prepared national water resource management
plans.
The literature is replete with recommendations for
the improvement of water management. The list is
almost without end. Two of the oldest and most
important proposals that have been made for the
improvement of water management are the adoption
of a systems approach towards water management
and the application of such an approach within the
context of the river basin. Mention has been made of
the failure of the countries of Latin America to
adopt, in any practical sense, integrated river basin
 The evolution of water management in Latin America: Terence Lee
management as the basis for water management
policy. It is not surprising, therefore, that the case
study findings raise doubts as to the immediate
benefits to water management of the adoption of
either a systems approach or the river basin as the
basic organization unit. Without coincidence in the
definition of boundaries, the system cannot be
defined. Moreover, in water resources management
in particular, it hampers system definition if the
limits do not respect hydrologic boundaries.
It is not suggested that the adoption of a systems
approach as the basic concept underlying water
management policy is seen as a panacea which would
resolve all problems. The question raised is whether
the advice to apply such an approach is a logical
response to the contemporary, issues facing water
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management in Latin America. As a guide for the
direction in which to direct efforts to achieve reform,
the integrated river basin management model, of
which the systems approach is a part, is of
unquestionable utility. Its application other than as a
general guide, however, does not seem possible as
yet.
Moreover, the confusion that reigns in the matter
of the definition of the subject matter of water
management raises further doubts as to the possibil-
ity of obtaining improvement in management
through a systems approach. There is a tendency in
the region, amply illustrated in the case studies, to
confuse water management, in the sense of the
integrated management of all uses of the resource,
and the management of the uses of water. The clear
separation of interests and understanding of the
difference between water management and the
management of individual uses is a necessary
prerequisite to the understanding of the problematic
of water management.
A similar conclusion can be reached on the
possibility of the introduction of the river basin as
the basic organizational unit for water management.
The countries of Latin America, with a few
exceptions, are highly centralized and the use of the
river basin unit to organize water management
would require almost a revolutionary change within
the organization of government. The imposition of
the river basin unit has not worked where it has been
attempted, with the possible exception of Colombia.
Even in Colombia the reality falls short of the
model.
In respect of other possible organizational
changes, it has already been argued that there is no
evidence to support any one form over another. This
is not to suggest that in any particular case benefit
might not result from reform of the prevailing
organization or methods of work. There is much to
WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 Number 3 September 1988
be trained in management situations normally
encountered in the region from continual adjust-
ment in the methods of operation to changing
circumstances, although users often respond more
rapidly to change than system management. One of
the major characteristics of existing water manage-
ment is just such resistance to the recognition of the
need for continual adjustment of administrative
methods.
There is an obvious need to improve manage-
ment. Currently the management of water systems,
whether responsible for the resource or its use, is too
often failing society. If organizational reform is not
the solution, then we must look elsewhere. More
attention could be given to the quality of manage-
ment (Motta, 1983). In particular, more attention
could be given to the relation between good
management and the preparation and training of
managers.
Raising the quality of management
The basic conclusion reached in this exploration of
the issues confronting the exercise of water manage-
ment in Latin America is the need to improve the
quality of management. Among all the problems and
difficulties in the general review of the evolution of
management, it is the question of obtaining and
maintaining the quality of management which
appears to be the most elusive. It has been even
more difficult to achieve than the perennial cause for
lament, sufficient financial resources.
This conclusion is reached, not because every
other kind of reform and innovation has been
already applied in one water system or another, but
because good management appears to be a broad-
ranging solution to many of the current inefficien-
cies. It is recognized that good management is
perhaps more easily obtained if there are sufficient
resources to support management and if there is an
encouraging external environment. Nevertheless
there is ample evidence that good management,
even in the face of resource restrictions and an
unfavourable external environment, can produce
efficient use of the water resource and that poor
management can dissipate the advantages of even
the most favourable circumstances.
The challenge that is raised, if it is accepted that
there is a need for improvement in the quality of
management, is how to achieve such improvement.
How can good-quality management be institutional-
ized? In some ways it is possible that this can never
be done. There would seem to be little doubt,
however, that improvement could be made on the
situation prevailing in most of the countries of the
167
 The evolution of water management in Latin America: Terence Lee
region. There are few examples of any systematic
attempts to produce personnel trained for water
management. There are successful efforts in the
training of the managerial staff in the public utilities
responsible for some water uses and, of course,
some water uses are managed by the private sector.
For the management of the water resource itself,
and the increasingly large and complex water-using
systems, very little can be found in the way of the
systematic preparation of managers. There are a few
courses on water management, but the coverage is
small and the course content is not always directed
towards the management issue. Rather the courses
are technical courses with a broader curriculum.
A training system to prepare water managers for
complex water systems and for water use managing
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institutions, whether public or private, was the most
important need in water management in Latin
America identified in the study on which this paper
is based. The creation of a training system will
require not only considerable national efforts but an
expansion of the existing international activities in
this field. At the same time there is a need to study
the demand for different types of management
training and to compare this demand with the
existing course offerings. By this means it should be
possible to identify the needs to adjust or expand the
supply and also to evaluate the potential for
international action.
168 WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
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Volume 4 Number 3 September 1988