ABSTRACT
Social control of water use in Latin America and the Caribbean considerably predates the arrival of European colonizers in the fifteenth century. The control of water use in pre-Columbian societies was a significant public activity which formed a fundamental part of the institutional structure of those societies. The law established the nature of water rights, but provided no other form of public intervention. The development of modern water management has gone through a number of stages in Latin America and the Caribbean. Water resource projects have played a prominent role in efforts to increase productivity either directly through irrigation or indirectly through the generation of hydroelectricity. The General Directorate of Water and Irrigation within Ministry of Agriculture acts as secretariat for Supreme Council, which serves to enhance its responsibility for management of the water resource.
