QUALITY, QUANTITY AND AVAILABILITY (QQA) PARAMETER OF WATER IRRIGATION UTILIZATION AT UPSTREAM MUSI RIVER BASIN, KAPAHIANG DISTRICT, BENGKULU PROVINCE, INDONESIA

Conflict and competition in the utilization of water resources had caused a lack of synchronization of water management in upstream, middle and downstream areas. The Program for Payment of Irrigation Water Resources Services (PIWRS) is a policy for watershed protection as well asquantity, quality, and availability (QQA) for irrigation improvement. The objective of this study was to examine the causal relationship between the QQA parameters in the upstream Musi River basin area (16,116.73 hectares or 26.70% of the total Musi River Basin area) towards irrigation water utilization behavior based on the rationality formula for distribution of upstream-middle-downstream irrigation areas. This study followed the Attribute-Based Method (ABM), which is based on farmers’ assessment to attributes or characteristics of goods or Services of Irrigation Water Resources (IWRS). The utility values analysis of QQA behavior in the Kepahiang irrigation water utilization area indicated that irrigation O & M fees were the main priority, as followed by availability (Av) and quality (Q) of irrigation water