The social dimension in water management and the interaction of stakeholders is a challenge when modeling hydrological systems. Case studies are essential to uncovering relations and unexpected results. In this research, a case study of the Guayllabamba basin in Ecuador is proposed. Mainly, the interactions, perspectives, and relations between key stakeholders are analyzed. NGOs, water management government institutions and water users’ associations are the main focus.
The political changes in Ecuador, the creation of new institutions and the new water law have shaken up the relations between these stakeholders and have provided a great opportunity to see what factors have affected the interactions of these stakeholders and have exacerbated some issues. Moreover, the capital of the country, Quito, is located in the Guayllabamba basin which allows the governmental institutions to be more hands on, thus generating interesting exchanges among all stakeholders. An assessment of the current legal framework is carried out to understand how the relations (mainly with the governmental stakeholders) should work, then interviews and surveys were applied to get a grasp on how the different stakeholders perceive each other and the main issues in the basin. Finally, direct observation was crucial to see the different stakeholders interacting and draw conclusions as to whether the responses to the interviews and survey are coherent with the observations made by the researcher. The methods used were mainly qualitative and the research followed an emergent design, meaning that modifications to the research were done along with the gathering of the data.