Managerial Performance of a Water User Association under Governance Reform and Drought: Evidence from the İnönü Open-Channel Irrigation Scheme (2012–2024)

Water scarcity and recurrent droughts are reshaping the operational and governance challenges faced by Water User Associations (WUAs). This study assesses how managerial performance evolved in the Inönü Water User Association (Eskişehir, Türkiye)—a reservoir-based open-channel system—across a major governance reform implemented in 2018. An annual operational dataset covering 2012–2024 was analyzed. Because the institutional change entered into force in April 2018, 2018 was treated as a transition year, and pre-reform (2012–2017) and post-reform (2019–2024) periods were compared using time-series analysis and period-based summaries. Managerial performance was evaluated using widely applied indicators: return on investment, maintenance costs to income ratio, management–operation–maintenance cost per irrigated area, fee collection performance, labor cost per irrigated area, and irrigated area per labor, together with water availability and irrigated area dynamics. Results indicate that post-reform management operated under markedly tighter hydrologic constraints: mean pre-season water availability declined from 12.9 million m³ (2012–2017) to 5.4 million m³ (2019–2024), while the mean dam water ratio decreased from 66.8% to 28.0%. Despite intensified drought pressure, service outcomes remained functional, with the mean irrigation ratio increasing from 42.9% to 52%, and fee collection becoming higher and more stable (fee collection performance between 91.2% and 97.7%). Overall, the findings suggest strengthened fee-collection discipline and continued service delivery under water scarcity, supporting the conclusion that the governance reform contributed to improved managerial performance of the irrigation scheme despite intensifying drought conditions.