The social life of water rights: towards a contractual approach

Superseding the ambiguous distinctions between formal and informal or between de facto and de jure rights developed in water studies, the study of water rights got a new lease on life when Franz and Keebet von Benda-Beckmann proposed a distinction between categorical and concrete rights. While this approach apparently explains the social embodiment of state, customary, or local normative formulations, a closer examination shows that water rights are not enacted as enforceable entitlements but constantly (re)negotiated at every water turn. Thus, the fluid and contingent social life of water rights in Farmer-Managed Irrigation Systems (FMIS) is best understood in terms of their contractual character.