1. Completion Report-Executive Summary September 2015 (draft only)
The ISRA started in November 2010 and lasted 57 month through August 2015. The project was part of
the Transition to High-value Agriculture, one of two components of the Compact that the government of
USA, acting through MCC, and the government of Moldova, acting through MCA, signed in January 2010
(the other was the road component). ISRA was implemented by a consortium of consultancies lead by
Mott MacDonald Euroconsult. It comprised sub-activities on Irrigation Management Transfer, and on River
Basin Management; IMT’s objective was to establish Water User Associations with capacity to effectively
manage and maintain the rehabilitation systems. RMB’s aim was to improve management of water
resources and assess future water availability to promote sustainable growth in the agricultural sector.
In IMT the ISRC established 11 WUAs as targeted. The establishment of these WUAs was made legally
possible by the WUA law that was a pre-condition for the signing of this Compact. The law came into
effect in July 2010. The law was a precondition because it makes the WUAs legal and, most importantly,
it directs the transfer of assets of the irrigation systems from the State’s Apele Moldovei, to the WUAs in
Management Transfer Agreements with thirty year free-of-charge leases and the obligation for the WUAs
for its O&M. This transfer of assets of the irrigation systems constituted a major step in decentralization
and institutional reform for AM. To assist AM in its new role as supervisor, rather than owner and
manager, ISRC established in AM a Monitoring and Supervision Unit that was launched in December
2011, and invested in training and capacity building with the staff of this new unit. AM’s MSU is not the
only institute that suffers high staff turn-over, and during the project it did not reach its full complement of
staff. Nonetheless it had a significant input at the start with the WUA Foundation Committees and the
MTAs. Considering the fundamental change in its mandate, ISRC recommends more capacity building
support for AM to grow in its new role as supporting supervisor when all the rehabilitated systems are
operational.
In the process of establishing the WUA the ISRC followed the WUA law and the sequence of events of
planned in its Statement of Work scrupulously because each step provided incentives to WUA and was
meant to inspire WUA members’ rights and obligations. As planned ISRC started off immediately with a
three month outreach campaign assisted by ISRA’s main national partner ACSA. At the end of
campaign, 6911 land users (32% women) had signed the expression of interest, meeting largely the
threshold (for investments in rehabilitation to go ahead) of 50%+1 as stipulated in the law. This was
followed by ISRC’s work on the process of the WUA registration, in particular meeting ten preconditions
for example elected WUA governing bodies. By March 2012 all 11 WUA were officially registered.
Simultaneously the ISRC worked on developing the custom made software for the WUA registry with its
linkage with GIS and accounting software in order to install these on the hardware as soon as possible.
After a training effort that started in 2012 and lasted until 2014, counting 65 Training Days, the registries
were complete and correct by June 2015. The most recent version of August 2015, had 13,000 land
users on record (44% female), with six 6759 WUA members (39% female). ISRC’s role in setting up the
registry was extensive, with the development of custom-made software and training. It is the backbone of
the WUA’s administration and ultimately its sustainability; ISRC recommends that MCA and AM follow-up
on the WUA registry.
The next important step was ISRC’s work, assistance in contracts etc., with the WUA governing bodies in
securing WUA office space. For the group of seven these offices were a fact in September/November
2012 when the equipment and furniture provided by the project was delivered and by June 2014, the
remainder four WUAs also had furnished and equipped offices. Once the office were a fact, ISRC work
started on installing the computer programs and conducting the training. General assembles started in

2. 2012, and the ISRC worked with the administrative councils to prepare the WUA annual budgets to be
approved by these assembles. The ISRC developed a template for these budgets and trained all
accountants in its use.
The WUA’s establishment process culminated in the tri-partite Management Transfer Agreements with
WUA, and MCA and Apele Moldovei. For this the WUAs needed to meet no less than eight
preconditions. ISRC’s role in WUAs meeting each and every condition was extensive and crucial. In
April/May 2013, the signatories signed the MTA of the first group of seven WUAs. In June 2015, the
parties signed so-called pre-MTA for the second group of three WUAs. All these MTA are based on the
system’s asset inventory prior-to-rehabilitation. Therefore the assets’ inventory of these MTAs need to be
updated as soon as rehabilitation is complete, and handed over from the construction company to Apele
Moldovei, who in turn need to hand it over to the WUA. This can only be completed once the
rehabilitation works are completed and officially handed-over by the construction company to AM. Prior
to this handing-over, the assets of the rehabilitated scheme need to be cleared by an inspection by the
state commission of the Ministry of Construction. This inspection and official handing-over is a time
consuming process. MCA and AM will need to work very closely together to complete it in time.
One of the SoW’s design assumption was that the actual rehabilitation works would take place
concurrently with ISRA’s capacity building and training. This overlap started only in 2013 with the start of
the rehabilitation works. But the ISRC capacity building and training started in January 2011, over two
years before the start of the actual rehabilitation. In 2012/13 the rehabilitation works encountered delays,
these were beyond ISRA’s influence but affected its workplan in that it precluded hand-on training &
capacity building of rehabilitated systems with its implications of O&M, and cost recovery. This also
affected WUA members’ motivation to pay membership but in 2014/15 ISRC launched a second outreach
campaign targeted at the sector meetings and this campaign improved the payment record: for 2015
seven WUAs had paid at least 70%. In August 2015, for most WUAs the rehabilitation works are almost
complete, and this is expected to improve the WUAs motivation to pay the membership fee in time. But
the need for technical assistance in O&M of the rehabilitated systems is one of the most important
justifications for ISRC to recommend post-ISRA support for WUAs.
For IMT the ISRC produced 14 training materials, it conducted almost six hundred trainings, with eight
thousand participant (34% female). Among the most prominent training subjects were the preparations for
the annual budgets and the general assemblies, the MTA preparation, the registry software. Informal
training, mostly in the form of backstopping in the operation of computer programs for accounting and the
registry, became increasingly important.
RBM
On 27th of June Moldova signed the EU Association Agreement which had been in preparation for some
time. Thus, back in 2009, even prior to the start of this Compact, MCA already started assistance to MEn
in drafting a new Water Law (with long-term water rights and to begin compliance with the EU’s Water
Framework Directive) to replace the old Water Code from before independence. ISRC supported the
passage of the draft Water Law through Parliament. ISRC’s work on this activity lasted almost two years
starting in 2010 till December 2011 when Parliament passed the law. In its approval process ISRC’s
prepared informative notes, met representatives of Parliamentary commissions and members of political
parties, prepared minutes of meetings, develop divergence tables etc. When the new Water law entered
into force in October 2013, Moldova became the first country in EECCA (Eastern Europe, the Caucasus,
and Central Asia) with a new legal framework, superseding its old water code, for river basin
management. And Moldova is the second of those countries (after Armenia) to enact water legislation
that is partially harmonized with EU directives. With the new Water Law Moldova has also started
compliance with EU’s Water Framework directive.

3. Between May 2012 and November 2013, ISRC worked on drafting four secondary acts under the Water
Law. The task was completed when government published this legislation in its official monitor. These
established the regulatory framework and supported Common Platform 1 and 2, and the identification,
delineation, and classification of water bodies. This process took much longer than planned with many
discussions, negotiations and compromises.
In early July 2011, ISRC’s produced an institutional and monitoring framework review for the water
resources sector, with recommendations on streamlining official mandates of the numerous institutes in
the sector and data sharing. The need to rationalize the State Hydrological Service’s water monitoring
network, and bring it in line with WFD’s water bodies is an essential part of the government’s policy of
compliance with the EU’s WFD.
For the Water Monitoring Network the ISRC recommended the sites and the equipment for the real-time
telemetry for real-time records. It subsequently assisted in the installation and training it its use. As an
integrated part of the water monitoring network, the ISRC assisted the State Hydrological Service in
hydrological surveys: it assisted in scanning-in 150 paper copies of rating curves, forty where thus
digitized, and these data are now available for modeling, but the remaining 110 should be completed by
SHS. With SHS, ISRC also developed four rating curves from the new sites but more data points are
needed for these curves. This process was accompanied by ISRC training and capacity building. SHS’s
water monitoring network is assisted by several donors but these investments need effective coordination
to produce results in terms of more and better water resource management. SHS needs institutional
reform for its water monitoring network and the O&M of its new equipment and the work on the IDC of
water bodies.
Common Platform 1 is the one-stop-shop for environmental authorizations for special water use. ISRC
did the development of CP1 and in doing so worked closely with the Electronic Government center which
has the official mandate in e-governance. In April 2014 CP1 became operational. The process was
accompanied by a training effort for staff of the State Ecological Institute’s district and headquarters, and
WUAs. But in the ensuing eighteen months, SEI has issues only one authorization and the recipient was
not a WUA, in spite of intensive efforts by MCA, assisted by ISRC. It is inherent to new systems to face
initial resistance in its application but CP 1 is an essential part of institutional reform and digitization that
are government policies. The ISRC recommends that MCA and AM cooperate closely in their efforts to
support SEI to succeed in adopting the new system.
The ISRC also took the lead in the development and designed Common Platform 2 and 3: CP 2 is a river
basin management database system, and CP 3 is a public portal to present some of the processed
information from CP 2. These form the Water Resources Information System which is part of the RBM
decision support system.
In close consultation with MEn and MCA, the ISRC developed its draft for the Nistru River basin District
management Plan (2016-2022) that it submitted to MEN in June 2015. It also coordinated with the EU
assisted project on Environmental protection of international river basins (EPIRB, 2012-2016) that,
simultaneously with the Nistru plan, developed the same plan for the Prut. The ISRC also was actively
involved in the two rounds of public consultations, assisting in the organization and as moderator. The
ISRC recommends that MEn, with EPRBI deals with the next phases of both plans jointly. If this
materializes it will conclude a cycle of extraordinary effective donor coordination EU in water resource
management between the EU and MCC.