As of today, 24 Water Users’ Organizations (WUO) have already been established in Ukraine. The process of registering WUOs is not complicated, but it has its own peculiarities, unlike the creation of other legal entities. Ruslan Kalnytskyi, the UAC legal advisor, said this during a meeting on "Implementation of Land Reclamation Reform in Kirovohrad region". The event was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, the State Water and State Fisheries Agencies of Ukraine, USAID AGRO, regional and district military administrations, local governments, the Main Department of the State Geocadastre of Kirivohrad region, representatives of scientific institutions and advisory services, and agricultural producers interested in irrigation development.

Following the adoption of the law "On Water Users’ Organizations" in May last year, Ukraine is in the active process of creating these associations. Unfortunately, no WUOs have been registered in Kirovohrad region to date.

"Getting the reclamation system under the management of those who are its direct users provides a number of advantages. Among them are: independent determination of water tariffs, maintenance and modernization of the equipment, the ability to employ the required number of employees, determine their salaries and attract investments," noted Ruslan Kalnytskyi, the UAC Legal Advisor.

It should be noted that all the stages of the WUO creating are sequential - you cannot change the order of their implementation.

In particular, the roadmap looks like this:

1. Creation of an initiative group.
2. Gathering information about the reclamation system, a list of land plots served by it, to determine the service area and possible founders of the WUO.
3. Сonstituent assembly: its preparation and announcement.
4. Holding a constituent assembly and making a decision on the establishment of WUO.
5. Registration of WUO in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs.
6. Ordering land management documentation to determine the reclamation network.
7. Entering information about the relevant reclamation network and its components into the State Land Cadastre.
8. Applying to the WUO and obtaining a decision of the Authorized Body and/or local authorities on the transfer of the reclamation network engineering infrastructure facilities to the WUO.
9. Drawing up and signing the Act of Acceptance and Transfer of the Reclamation Networks Engineering Infrastructure Facilities to the WUO.

State registration of ownership rights of the WUO to the received reclamation assets. After the establishment of WUO and its registration as a legal entity, technical land management documentation for the inventory of the reclamation network (its components) is ordered and information on such a reclamation network is entered into the State Land Cadastre. At this stage, the list of all land plots included in the service territory of such a reclamation network can be officially defined to understand whether the WUO has correctly determined the list of land plots included in such a service territory at the stage of creation.

The process of acquiring ownership of land reclamation system facilities by the WUO is carried out at the request of the WUO. State-owned, communal property or ownerless land is transferred free of charge. The decision is made by local authorities within 20 days. Canals of national importance and privately owned facilities are not transferred to the ownership of the WUO. However, leased facilities can be transferred without tenant’s consent.

“The USAID Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRO) Program also provides subgrants to support and develop WUOs” said Serhii Kubah, Land Reform Officer of the USAID Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRO) Program.

"According to the terms and conditions, funding for the introduction of modern technologies and automation of irrigation can be received by WUOs whose service area is at least 200 hectares, and the WUO's participation in financing the subgrant is at least 30% of the total project budget," said Serhii Kubah, Land Reform Officer of the USAID Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRO) Program.

Co-financing is provided in particular for:

• Modernization of the pumping station, which will be transferred to the ownership of WUO from state ownership;
• Acquisition/replacement of sprinkler machinery and equipment;
• Organization of drip irrigation infrastructure;
• Installation of a water accounting system;
• Replacement of irrigation pipelines.

As a reminder, with the support of the USAID Agricultural and Rural Development Program (AGRO), experts of the Ukrainian Agri Council have developed and presented a manual on the establishment and operation of WUOs. It contains answers to all legal and practical questions, as well as algorithms for the formation and establishment of WUOs, tariff setting and payment for their services, taxation and property management, etc.

The manual can be downloaded here.