there has been strong resistance to decentralise the appropriate decisionmaking powers investment funds and technical and managerial resources the national water commission retains control ordinance and sanction responsibilities overall this has contributed to the incapacity of cotas to effectively reduce groundwater overexploitation as coordinating units they already make recommendations to governmental authorities and to users but the role and functions of their staff are not always well understood especially regarding public participation similarly the national water law failed to allocate a clear role and prerogatives to cotas and left users with subjective responsibilities to sustainably manage water in a context of already limited citizen participation