Gondalpur irrigation system, Punjab province, Pakistan

Resource System
Watershed and associated topography
Resource Units
Freshwater

Gondalpur Irrigation system is located in Punjab Province in Pakistan. The resource appropriated related to the social dilemma is water for irrigation diverted with barrages from rivers to be distributed through canals. The original case was reported in 1986 and catalogues an action situation involving 50 farmers. The main watercourse of the village has serious problems in maintenance and water allocation. The author argues that the minute subdivision of land, the absence of an indigenous local capacity to ensure cooperation on collective tasks, and the “embeddedness” of irrigation management tasks in a highly fragmented and competitive social structure are deep-rooted problems requiring fundamental changes in system design and organization.

This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR coding conducted in the 1980s by Edella Schlager and Shui Yan Tang at Indiana University may be found under the CPR tab in the Institutional Analysis section below.