Question 1: What to do when Basin Water Resources Management (BWRM) and the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine (SAWR) refuse to give an information on existing reclamation systems, drainage points, etc., and village councils have no other documents and records are not kept?
Answer: According to the current legislation (before the adoption of the draft bill №5202-d "On Water Users’ Organization and promotion of Hydrotechnical land reclamation" and their entry into force) by the central executive body which implement the state’s policy in the field of hydrotechnical land reclamation (the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine), institutions and organizations which belong to the sector of its management there is no obligation to give an information at the request of water users in the amounts provided by the draft bill №5202-d (including: information on the list of water users whose services are provided using the water point; cadastral number to a plot of land such water users, hydrotechnical land reclamation of which is provided using the appropriate water point; schemes of engineering infrastructure of reclamation networks).
Nowadays, the State Agency of Water Resources is obliged to comply with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine dated 01.13.2011 № 2939-IV "On access to public information". The list of information that is public one is approved by the Order of the State Water Agency dated 01.31.2012 № 45 "On approval of the list of types of public information, including environmental, managed by the State Water Agency of Ukraine, and regulations for placing such an information"
This public information is published on the website of the State Water Agency or provided upon request. Some public information exists as an open database. Thus, summary data on state accounting of water usage can be found on the website of the State Water Agency https://data.gov.ua/dataset/cadastre-water-use
Although information on the usage of water resources is classified as a public information, the provision of information in that context, which is necessary for the formation of WUOs (including information on persons) is not provided by current legislation.
Information that can be obtained as part of a request for public information:
- information (name, availability of the contract, number of hectares under irrigation) concerning water users (legal entities and individuals) with reference to the organization (BWRM, Regional OWR, water channel management, interdistrict WRM, operational offices), which serve the relevant sources of irrigation and water points (pumping stations, main channels, pipelines, other sources).
After the entry into force of the draft law "On Water Users’ Organizations and promotion of hydrotechnical land reclamation" the central executive body (which implements the state’s policy in the sector of hydrotechnical land reclamation, institutions, organizations which belong to its management) will have a direct obligation to provide information at the request of water users in the amounts provided by such a law.
Question 2: What to do if the State Water Agency/local authorities does not have information on the reclamation system, land plots, hydrotechnical reclamation of which is provided using the appropriate drainage point (ie, even after adoption of the law, it cannot be provided at the request of water users)?
Answer: the draft law №5202-d does not exclude the possibility of WUOs establishing and determining the territory of its service, even in the absence of proper information from the authorized bodies.
The government’s response with a list of required information is not indispensable condition for WUO registration. Of course, obtaining such an information from the relevant authorized bodies and enterprises, institutions, organizations will allow at the initial stage to determine some detailed information about the area of service of WUOs. At the same time, the lack of answers to the relevant inquiries of the members of the initiative group is not an obstacle to the formation of WUOs, because in this case the WUO founders will independently determine its service areas based on the information at their disposal. In particular, such an independent determination of the service area can be made on the basis of information on existing contracts of farmers for the supply of water for irrigation of their land plots, in which the same water release point is defined.
In cases of lack of information about land plots, hydrotechnical reclamation of which can be restored in the case of major maintenance of the existing pumping station (another hydrotechnical structure) or construction of a new one, the founders independently determine the land plots that are included into the WUO’s service area. In addition, the draft law provides for the possibility of establishing WUOs even by one person, who will subsequently order land management documentation in accordance with the established procedure to determine the reclamation network and register the relevant network in the StateGeoCadastre. This will provide an opportunity for all water users whose land plots will be included in the WUO’s service area according to the SGC and to apply for WUO membership.
In other words, the exact and complete determination of the WUO’s service area in practice will take place after the formation of such a WUO, because such a WUO after its state registration as a legal entity, orders land management documentation to determine the reclamation network, which is provided by the hydrotechnical land reclamation of land plots included into the service area of the organization, and based on its results submits an application for inclusion of the information about the relevant reclamation network to the SGC
At the same time, when preparing land management documentation, all land plots are included in the service area of the reclamation network of WUOs, hydrotechnical reclamation of which must be provided technologically as a whole with the corresponding water release point (water release points) and objects of inter-farm and/or intra-farm reclamation systems in accordance with the project documentation for construction (placement) of relevant systems and facilities. Such land plots are included into the service area of the reclamation network of the organization regardless of whether there are objects of inter-farm and/or intra-farm reclamation systems available to the day of preparation of land management documentation, which were built (located) for hydrotechnical reclamation of such plots.
Question 3: When, theoretically, can the draft bill №5202-d be adopted, which will start the creation of WUOs?
Answer: Theoretically, it can be adopted in the second reading in late November this year. We hope that the People's Deputies will show a state position and support the document.
Question 4: They received official answers from the Basin Water Resources Management of Lower Dnieper that they do not provide information on on-farm reclamation systems, as they do not have them on the balance sheet. What shall I do?
Answer: Inner reclamation systems, which are private ones and are not in the state’s ownership, are not actually managed by BWRM and are not on their balance. Only current owners have information about them.
Additional sources of such information may be answers from:
- design institutes for technical documentation;
- local governments regarding the objects (components) of reclamation systems that have been transferred to them;
- the State Agency of Water Resources, local executive bodies, which with the participation of local governments, must conduct an inventory of engineering infrastructure of irrigated inter- and inner-systems, audit of irrigated land usage and energy audit of pumping stations, according to Presidential Decree as of August 13, 2021 № 35/2021.
