Knowledge, customs and strategies for water management in the vista hermosa hamlet, departamento san marcos, Guatemala

Abstract

As a key natural resource for human survival, water has always
had great political and economic importance. The global change
towards neoliberalism generates an intense discussion about
how natural resources should be managed and, among them,
water resources controlled by the State, by the capitalist market
system or by users’ groups. In this discussion, we present a
debate regarding applied knowledge, distinguishing between
scientific knowledge by foreign experts and the local knowledge
of resource users, like Mayan indigenous peoples, who faced
their environment and developed an elaborate water management
system. The objective of the study was to document knowledge by
the Maya people regarding water management. This knowledge
includes the population’s perception regarding the water resource,
the customs that prevail, as well as the different sources for
utilization, uses and management elements. The field work was
carried out between May, 2006, and January, 2007, in the Vista
Hermosa hamlet (Guatemala), with the help of 59 informants,
through observations, different types of interviews and participant
mapping. Culturally specialized informants gave a first image of
the local water management system and, beginning with them,
the snowball principle was applied to meet the other informants.
Data from interviews and maps, among others, were codified and
analyzed by frequencies, differences or similarities in the codes.
As a result, we found that in Vista Hermosa there is a perception
of water that is composed of different concepts and customs. The
most important source of water for the hamlet are fountains;
their supply system is composed of mini-irrigation and householdsupply
(tap) projects, water from rivers and fountains that are
not captured, as well as a nursery and a municipal lumberyard.
With regards to the image of water, we found many types of
relationships between elements of the management system and
the ways that inhabitants in Vista Hermosa utilize water, taking
advantage of it through organized neighbors’ groups and not
individually, which allows socialization of knowledge and an
efficient use of the community infrastructure.