Water Institutional Arrangements of FalajAl Daris in the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

Oman, which is located on the Southern East of Arabian Peninsula, classified as holding a semi-arid climate with an average annual rainfall of 100 mm. Therefore, agricultural production in Oman is fully dependent in irrigation. More than one third is supplied by the ancient aflaj (sing. Falaj), which provide 680 x 10 6 m 3 of water per year and irrigate of an area of 26,500 ha. There is two commonly known definition of the aflaj; the locally defined from the classic Arabic root as to divide the water among its shareholders. In addition, the modern technical definition as trenches and tunnels, which are dug in the ground, to convey the accumulated rainfall water table to the irrigated area in the villages. This study explore some of the existing institutional arrangements found within Falajdaris, at the waliyat (city) of Nizwalocated in the Dakhillya governmental, Sultanate of Oman. This study uses mainly face-To-face interviews with local administrative falaj agents to explore and discuss the most operated mechanized of the institutional arrangements. The study concluded that there is strong relationship between FalajDaris institutional arrangements development and physical water variability.

Falaj Indigenous knowledge in Oman and Iran

“…They had to ask why water quality differs from one falaj to another, why groundwater level fluctuates from time to time, why some types of soil are more prone to collapse, how a worker can find his way underground while digging a tunnel from one well to another, why a well dug in a land covered with a given plant species hits groundwater, how a falaj should be managed to prevent any conflict over its water shares and so on. Although in the first place such questions originate from falaj affairs, they reside in different disciplines of sciences ranging from geology to management and institutional arrangements (Al-Marshoudi, 2018; Al-Marshoudi et al, 2021). This article shows how falaj could have contributed to the knowledge of Indigenous people about their natural and social surroundings, and how this knowledge could have paved the way for them to expand their socio-economic sphere (Dennis & Al-Ghafri, 2018).…”