A WUA usually elects leaders, handles disputes internally, collects fees, and implements maintenance.
In most areas, WUA membership depends on one's relationship to a water source (such as groundwater or a canal).
[1][2] Political scientist Elinor Ostrom has identified seven important characteristics of organizations which manage common resources well: WUA are fundamentally a participatory, bottom-up concept.
Though they have existed for centuries, they have received particular attention in recent decades as a development tool.
WUAs have been organized in developing countries as diverse and distant as Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, Somalia, and Nepal among others.