In recent decades, water has been subjected to different commodification and decollectivization processes. Increasingly, this is also affecting collective irrigation water management. Critical analysis of this privatization and de-collectivization wave in the irrigation sector has mainly focused on neoliberal institutional policies and marketoriented legislation. However, subtly and silently but equally determinant, the adoption of water-saving technologies is fostering the penetration of private enterprise and market-based governance into these hydro-social settings. This paper discusses this phenomenon through a case study of the community of Senyera in Valencia, Spain, tracking the privatization and subsequent contestation and re-takeover of water management by irrigation system users. The article shows how privatization removes users' autonomy in the name of common well-being, and increases irrigation costs in a context of little transparency. But the case also highlights users' capacity to re-value and re-signify their past collective action, remembering and 're-membering to' the collective. Senyera water users critically and reflexively analyse privatization, reconstruct societal relationships around and embedded inside the new technology, and re-collectivize and re-moralize irrigation management in a new hydro-social scenario.

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Water scarcity is a critical environmental issue worldwide, especially in arid and semiarid regions. In those regions, climate change projections suggest further reductions in freshwater supplies and increases of the recurrence, longevity and intensity of drought events. At present, one important question for policy debate is the identification of water policies that could address the mounting water scarcity problems. Suitable policies should improve economic efficiency, achieve environmental sustainability, and meet equity needs. This paper develops and applies an integrated hydro-economic model that links hydrological, economic and environmental elements to such issues. The model is used to conduct a direct comparison of water markets, water pricing and institutional cooperation, based on their economic, environmental and equity outcomes. The analysis is performed in the Jucar Basin of Spain, which is a good natural experiment for studying water scarcity and climate change policies. Results indicate that both institutional and water market policies are high performing instruments to limit the economic damage costs of droughts, achieving almost the same social benefits. However, the environmental effects of water markets are worrying. Another important finding is that water pricing is a poor policy option not only in terms of private and environmental benefits but also in terms of equity.

[AQ1]The aim of this study is to conduct an ex post analysis of the generalized implementation of drip irrigation in the last two decades in the Valencia Region (Spain). Due to the important role played by water users' associations (WUAs) in this socio-technological change in the region, this research was based on 77 interviews with different WUAs that provided information prior and subsequent to modernization. Firstly, we review the published studies concerning the effects generated by this technological change and describe the drip irrigation promotion policies implemented by national and regional governments. Subsequently, we analyse the consequences for irrigation associations, including effects on water use and irrigation costs.The reduction of water withdrawals has been generally significant. This was possible because the regional contextual factors prevented, in most cases, crop intensification and areal expansion. Nevertheless, due to the enormous investment effort and the resulting maintenance costs, the technological change has increased irrigation costs, generating some uncertainties concerning the financial sustainability of some WUAs. In conclusion, a thorough assessment of contextual factors and accompanying measures such as technical assistance and monitoring appear to be indispensable to avoid unforeseen effects and to achieve the potential goals of conversion to drip technologies.1

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The aim of this article is to analyze the strategies developed by water users' associations in Spain to overcome drought in a context of structural scarcity due to geographical conditions and from the development of expansionary irrigation policies. This analysis is based on interviews with farmers and representatives of water user's associations in four selected irrigation districts placed in the Valencia Region. The work demonstrates that in a relatively small area of the Mediterranean there are very different levels of vulnerability, generally related to the origin and diversity of water resources. Diversification of resources and hydraulic interconnection of districts, which allows for water management flexibility, appear to be the best way to improve drought resilience in the area. However, some institutional and environmental risks of these strategies are also outlined.

Water policies have been implemented worldwide to face water stress. However, the existence of water users' groups with opposite interests and different political power results in the plain failure or low effectiveness of water policy reforms. A better understanding of users' perceptions regarding policy outcomes is important to avoid the failure of water policies and the intensification of water conflicts. This paper empirically examines the divergent perception of interest groups on the implementation of different policies dealing with water scarcity and their proactive involvement with water agencies. We have conducted a survey in the Jucar River Basin (a water-stressed basin in southeastern Spain) to analyze interest group opinions regarding water policy effectiveness and water institutions' performance in water management. Questionnaires were sent to the main irrigation districts and urban water utilities within the basin. The collected information gives a general picture of the behavior of opposite water interest groups in this basin. The analysis of the perceptions on water policy reform between the groups highlights the existence of significant differences between preferred measures to address water scarcity and lobbying capacity. These differences depend on the size of the group, the specific basin location, and other group characteristics.

During the last three decades, like many other Mediterranean states, Spain has intensively promoted the modernization of irrigation, focusing mainly on the introduction of pressurized irrigation systems. Following 30 years of investment, a shift in irrigation policies is needed to solve some of the deficiencies in this modernization process and to incorporate new measures to cope with upcoming challenges generated by international markets, climate change and other social and economic processes. This paper describes and analyses the results of participatory research carried out with the water user associations in the autonomous region of Valencia, in order to define post-modernization irrigation policies. A survey and 24 local workshops involving 304 water user associations were conducted during the irrigation season of 2018 in order to form an assessment of the sector and design new irrigation policies. The results show that after 30 years of important investment, the obsolescence of the infrastructure has become the current main priority, making farmers dependent on public subsidies. New necessities have also emerged, such as renewable energies and nonconventional water resources, which farmers consider indispensable in order to reduce operating costs and guarantee water supply.