5 years of LPW, or how local water partnerships work.

Local water partnerships (LPWs) were established to improve the management of water resources in rural areas. Today they have had their first successes, but their functioning is still far from ideal. Those involved in the initiative have ideas on how to change this situation. Will they succeed in getting the support they need?

Intensive development of LPW

At the end of May, a conference was held in Warsaw to summarize 5 years of LPW operations. The event, attended by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, provided an opportunity to discuss achievements, but also the many needs raised by local water partnerships.

The conference was organized by the Center for Agricultural Advisory Services (CDR) in Brwinów, which has been involved in the process of establishing LPWs from the very beginning. Recall that local water partnerships are structures that facilitate cooperation in the management of water resources in agriculture and rural areas. Partners are individuals and entities involved in water management within a given county, including farmers, local governments and water companies.

The development of LPWs in Poland took place with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture (ARiMR) and Polish Waters, with CDR as the main coordinator of the project. The first 18 pilot partnerships were established in 2020, and there are now 261 across the country.

What has been achieved?

At the conference organized by the CDR, representatives of local water partnerships had the opportunity to present their experiences and point out the difficulties encountered. The greatest success of the initiative was considered to be the expansion of the knowledge of farmers and local governments in the field of water management, especially in the context of the increasing phenomenon of hydrological and agricultural drought.

Throughout the country, LPWs have developed a total of 265 strategic water management plans at the county level, also drawing on support from scientific institutions. Important achievements included conducting studies on the impact of climate change on weather conditions in the Vistula and Oder River catchments by 2050, along with a forecast of water availability.

Thanks to LPW’s active involvement, many counties have been able to improve retention capacity and improve water management in the agricultural sector. Such activities are important for increasing rural resilience to the effects of climate change.

Local water partnerships need legal and financial support

As part of the discussion that ensued among the conference participants, the basic problems standing in the way of further development of LPW were raised. According to provincial coordinators, partnership meetings are becoming less and less popular. The main reason for this was identified as the lack of relevant legal regulations, which entails limited opportunities to raise funds for the operation of partnerships.

The creation of LPWs is not subject to any formal procedures, which makes it difficult to build an operational structure at the district level. Many local governments and institutions at the provincial level are unwilling to become more deeply involved, and the lack of funds further complicates the organization of work. The inadequate flow of information and hydrological data, which, after all, are the basis for rational water management, has also been identified as a problem.

According to conference participants, the current priority is to create a formal, centralized system, reflected in the Water Law, which would consolidate the partnerships already established and support the creation of more. Such a solution could improve the exchange of good practices at the supra-regional level and would enable the implementation of concrete measures on the ground.

The lack of support at the national level will not only inhibit the creation of more LPWs, but could lead to increased discouragement among farmers. This will undermine support for the idea of water self-governance and could be the beginning of the end of local water partnerships. According to CDR representatives, this would be a huge loss and a clear setback to the goal of an equitable system of water resource distribution in rural areas.