294 However, it is the water users themselves who, based on their own interests, collectively define how they wish to manage water resources in their territory, and which interventions respond to their actual needs. Building on Ostrom’s analysis, González-Chavarría (2014) argues that coordination problems encompass three key dimensions: (1) how individuals decide whether or not to participate in cooperative processes; (2) how actors define the rules governing access to and distribution of benefits from a common resource, as well as how the costs associated with monitoring, sanctioning, and institutional change are allocated when rules are introduced as regulatory mechanisms; and (3) how interactions between the community or interest group and actors within the political system are resolved. Also, other authors have introduced the concept of polycentrism or polycentricity, defined as “the relationships among multiple authorities with overlapping jurisdictions,” or as a system in which “citizens are able to organize themselves not within a single authority, but across multiple governing authorities operating at different scales” (Andersson and Ostrom, 2008). 3. METHODOLOGY AND STUDY APPROACH This study adopts a case study approach to analyze the METRHI, with the aim of understanding the role of thematic roundtables within the SNGRH, as well as the institutional, territorial, and hydrological contexts in which they operate. Accordingly, the article seeks to examine how institutional processes and user participation are shaped in relation to the territory and water governance within a mining context. Attention is given to how knowledge of the hydrological cycle and water resources informs the delimitation of the hydrographic unit, the definition of water availability, and existing water uses that constitute the local water-related challenges, especially under climate change scenarios, and how these elements condition both the establishment and the functioning of METRHI. The study is based on information generated during 2025, reflecting the dynamic and evolving nature of METRHI as an emerging governance mechanism. It draws on institutional and regulatory documents, spatial information, meeting minutes, participatory workshops, interviews, and participant observation conducted throughout the establishment process. The methodological contribution of this study lies in its qualitative and interpretive analysis of a recent, territorially grounded water governance experience in a mining-influenced setting, integrating institutional and territorial readings and triangulating documentary, technical, and participatory sources to capture decision-making dynamics and multiactor interactions as they unfolded over time.
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