Water Management and Institutional Adaptation Strategies in the Irrigation Sector: Two Experiences in Emilia-Romagna

Climate change is putting pressure on economic sectors, especially agriculture, because of the increase of extreme events, like water scarcity and droughts, that call for impellent adaptation strategies in water management oriented toward the lining of water demand up to future water availability. The EU institutions have worked intensely in recent years for defining a policy guidance on the quantitative management of water resources to complement the Water Framework Directive. The outcome is a Blueprint for the safeguard of water resources which stresses, inter alia, the necessity of implementing in the recent future measures that induce a more rational use of water resources such to reduce the inefficiencies and to improve the allocation mechanisms by fostering, whenever possible, the equalization between water needs and economic values of water use. The chapter proposes the study of two experiences of irrigation water management in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna whose outcomes thoroughly reflect the achievement of the recent policy objectives. The first is the case of the irrigation district Tarabina, in which a change in the tariff system from area-based to volume-based has yielded a more equitable distribution of water and related costs among users along with a remarkable reduction in water use. The second is the experience of the institution of voluntary irrigation boards for the management of small water harvesting catchments and related infrastructures whose governance is inspired by use efficiency criteria, with an opening toward the allocation mechanism of water transfers. A polyhedric approach for the management of water resources in the light of climate change is essential for the correct analysis of current issues and for the implementation of suited adaptation strategies that reflect the potentialities of governance improvements in line with the recommendations provided by the EU institutions.