Résumé
This article sets out to contribute to the debate on the criteria for selecting members of water user associations (WUAs) for large irrigation systems in the Nepalese Tarai. From a socio-historical approach, I explore irrigation policies through the prism of intertwined scientific paradigms and social power relations specific to the Nepalese context. I show how WUA membership has been dissociated from water use and linked to land tenure. An explanation of this historical process highlights the socio-economic consequences on rural communities dependent on surface irrigation and provides a critique of the WUA model, while suggesting a way of reorienting this participatory model towards further inclusion.