Managing water sources with the participation of the local community is now a common trend that lots of organizations are promoting. In 2014, Center for Water Resources Conservation and Development implemented a local knowledge research in Mỹ Hóa 3 hamlet, Tân Hòa commune to assess the water management situation at local level. The research was taken as a part of thea project “Community Empowerment for An Integrated Water Management in An Giang Province, Mekong Delta".

The workshop took place on December 25th. At the workshop, participants shared the general results achieved and discussed problems concerning the integrated water management at local level.

The representative of researching group at Mỹ Hóa 3 hamlet shared the results such as the hamlet history, the hamlet map, typical ecological areas, seasonal calendar, water demand, relationship between concerning parties etc. The research showed that there were several obstacles in managing water resources in the area and with the present mechanism, it was considered to be infeasible to solve those problems.

According to the above chart, each household negotiates directly with the Cooperatives and water line owners about irrigation rates. Moreover, at the local there still exist conflicts between water users in higher and lower area. These conflicts are still managed by general officers at government office without clear responsibilities assignment.

Mr Nguyễn Hữu Trí, local government office representative, Head of Agriculture and Rural Development Division, gave praise to the outcome of the research group. He also shared the activities of the Management Board of Bắc Vàm Nao System and supported the team in completing the research and presenting practical suggestion in water resources management at the local level toward the participatory managing.