Water institutions and the "Revival" of tanks in South India: What is at stake Locally?

International audienceIn India, the "Revival" of seasonal lake-reservoirs (tanks) is part of decentralisation and partipatory management reforms regarding surface water, whereby programmes to rehabilitate these centuries-old infrastructures have made madatory the creation of formal water users associations (WUAs). In Tamil Nadu, South India, WUAs are created without even taking into account the existence of customary instituions' ways of managing tanks, and thus the WUAs either run parallel to the latter, lead to their decline or ensure continuity with them. Conversely, in Puducherry-s tank rehabilitation project, custormary instutions are purposely neglected in order to empower marginalised sections of the popultation. The aim of this article is to compare the impact of creating such a formal associations. Whatever the project, its success or otherwers lies in the hands of a local elite - either socio-economic or the new political elite - while all committee memberes are affiliated to political parties. In such a context, we question the stakes behind being a member of a formal user association and, more specifically, how these associations impact water management, how knowledge about water is acquired - especially with regard to groundwater recharge - and how this vital resource is controlled