Organization and administration of the water of the binational basin

In Colombia and Ecuador, the State is responsible for guaranteeing the availability and provision of water for the populations in the binational basin of the Mira and Mataje rivers; however, the communities have also organized to manage this resource, both for the management and use of aqueducts, as well as sewers and especially irrigation systems.

In the map shown below unlike Ecuador, for Colombia there is no geospatial information on irrigation districts or something similar, which could be due to the low investment made by the State in areas of armed conflict.

Figure 1. Irrigation district distribution map.

The total area of the Mira-Mataje basin is 1'111,565 ha (one million one hundred eleven thousand five hundred sixty-five hectares) and the coverage of properties that have irrigation coverage is 50,317 hectares, located mainly in Ecuador, where Carchi represents 23,009 hectares and Imbabura 27,308 hectares.

Figure 2. Irrigated and non-irrigated area in the Mira-Mataje binational basin (in percentage).

The administration of water for Ecuador and Colombia is carried out through the management of community associations, in Colombia, in the study area, those in charge of managing the aqueducts and sewers in the first instance are the municipalities, through the municipal mayors, which delegate the functions of administration and maintenance to the Community Action Boards (JAC), indigenous communities and community councils. In Ecuador, those responsible for water management are the National Water Secretariat (SENAGUA), the decentralized autonomous governments (GAD) in charge of the provinces, who are supported by the associations of Drinking Water and Sewerage Administrators (ASOJAAPA), the Undersecretariat of Irrigation and Drainage (SRD) and the irrigators.

It is important to highlight that there are great differences with respect to the development and implementation of engineering works aimed at the operation, improvement and quality of the provision of the water service; Since there is an armed conflict in the Colombian part of the binational basin, investment is low in the municipalities located in the binational basin, so the main water organizations are specifically linked to the provision of water through private aqueducts, community aqueducts and family aqueducts. On the other hand, and in contrast, in Ecuador there is a community organization for aqueducts and sewers, together with the so-called irrigation districts, created to guarantee food production.

The actors found in the binational basin of the Mira and Mataje Rivers are very well defined in both countries, and three groups with high cultural importance are distinguished at a social level: indigenous people, black communities and peasants.

Next, for Colombia, the community councils and reservations of the binational basin are presented; while, for Ecuador, the indigenous communities located in the binational basin are listed.

Table 1. Community councils in the binational basin of the Mira and Mataje rivers in Colombia

Source: Adapted from the socioeconomic study of the Mira-Mataje basin in Colombia. 2016.

Table 2. Indigenous reservations in the binational Mira-Mataje basin in Colombia

Source: Geoportal National Land Agency. 2017.

Table 3.Indigenous communities in the Mira-Mataje basin in Ecuador

Source: Adapted from Practices and knowledge in community management of water for human consumption and sanitation in rural areas of Ecuador. 2019.

It is important to highlight that in Ecuador there is a better organization with respect to the companies that provide drinking water service; while in Colombia, community organizations oversee water supply management, mainly the Community Action Boards (JAC).

Below are some organizations related to water management within the Mira-Mataje basin, both for Colombia and Ecuador.

Table 4. Municipal public companies that provide drinking water services in the Mira-Mataje basin of Ecuador

Source: Adapted for the Mira-Mataje Ecuador basin of the right to water in Ecuador. An analysis from Political Science and Public Law. 2017.

Table 5. Community Action Boards in the municipalities of Tumaco and Ricaurte
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Source: Adapted from the Municipal Planning scheme of the Municipalities of Ricaurte and Tumaco. 2016.

For Barbacoas, the communal sector is made up of 45 communal organizations distributed as follows (Alcaldía de Barbacoas, 2016, p.81):

• 12 first-degree urban organizations, made up of 12 community action boards (JAC) and 1 community housing board (JVC) and citizen oversight bodies.
• 33 first-grade rural organizations, comprised of 14 indigenous reservations, 12 community councils, and 7 community action boards.

In Cumbal there are 4 indigenous councils: Cumbal, Mayasquer, Panan and Chiles. "The urban area, on the other hand, is made up of the mestizo and indigenous population who articulate community organization through trade and community organization by sectors, neighborhoods and urbanizations, represented by Community Action Boards in each one of them." (Mayor of Cumbal, 2016, p.164).

Watersheds are important for territorial planning due to the ecosystem services they offer to the population, mainly water for human consumption and the water required to guarantee food production. However, in Colombia there is no organization equivalent to the irrigation districts that exist in Ecuador, which include community organization in accordance with government guarantees of water supply and provision, especially for food production.

It should be noted that the National Government of Ecuador has proposed the implementation of greater coverage and efficiency for the year 2027, which includes the strengthening of the irrigation organizations found in each community (MAGAP, 2013).

At the political and administrative level, there is also evidence of a higher level of organization in Ecuador, where the Decentralized Autonomous Governments (GAD) are the institutions that make up the territorial organization of the Ecuadorian State and are regulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador (Art. 238-241) and the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization (COOTAD). The following table illustrates how Ecuador's National Irrigation and Drainage Plan is progressing in the provincial GADs related to the binational basin.

Table 6. Stages of the irrigation and drainage plan, according to the provincial GAD Ecuador

Source: Adapted from INEC- Census of Economic Environmental Information in Provincial GADs. 2019.

At the finest level of organization, in Ecuador, there are Irrigation Boards, which are listed below for the area of influence of the binational Mira-Mataje basin:

Table 7. Irrigation Boards Ecuador

Source: Irrigation systems with catchments in the Ambi River subaccount. GAD Provincial de Imbabura, 2018. Elaboration: CGRR, 2020.

Methodology to integrate binational information

A comparative analysis was carried out between the information collected in phase one independently for both Colombia and Ecuador; Subsequently, an analysis of the collected documentation was carried out, from which great differences were identified in the level of organization for water administration:

• In Colombia, the organization is based on the Community Action Boards (JAC), made up of indigenous, black and peasant populations, emphasizing mainly on the administration of aqueducts.
• In Ecuador, development on the subject is higher, since there are so-called irrigation districts, which in turn include a larger community organization.

Finally, the information from Colombia was homogenized with respect to the Community Action Boards (JAC), although there was a limitation due to the lack of cartography. For Ecuador, the limitation was having geographic information on the irrigation districts, while there was a spatial distribution layer of the irrigation systems.

Last update: Friday October 9, 2026 15:01:36 -05