This article examines the case of irrigation canal in Campo Alegre Usoigua, Huila, in south western Colombia. From an institutional approach, Community arrangements and formal forms of regulation that have emerged as a set of nested institutions for handling the resource in times of shortage and forpreventing socio-environmental conflicts are studied. | Cet article analyse le cas du canal d'irrigation Usoigua à Campo Alegre, Huila, au sud-ouest colombien. D'une approche institutionnelle, le régime communautaire et les formes officielles de régulationqu'ont émergé comme un ensemble des institutions imbriqués pour gérer la ressource dans périodes depénurie et pour prévenir les conflits environnementaux, ont été étudies. | Este artículo hace parte del proyecto de investigación: "Water institutions, efficiency and equityin climate adaptation: searching for general behavioral responses in bargaining under uncertainty",dirigido por Alexander Pfaff y María Alejandra Vélez y financiado por el Center on Global Change de la Universidad de Duke. Queremos agradecer a Héctor Plazas y Humberto Pérez por toda su gestión y colaboración para coordinar el trabajo de campo en Campo Alegre, así como a los usuarios del canal de Usoigua que aceptaron participar en las entrevistas.

During the past decade countries in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region have lifted more than 50 million people out of poverty, yet half of the rural population in the region still lacks access to sanitation and approximately 20 percent to drinking water. In January 2012, policy makers, scholars, and practitioners from nine LAC countries came together in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to explore the opportunities and challenges of integrating in a more systematic and sustainable way the promotion of hygiene and sanitation behavioral change into water and sanitation investments. During the conference in Santo Domingo, it became evident that a common understanding is currently emerging from most countries in the sense that infrastructure by itself will not solve the global problems of inadequate access to improved sanitation and potable water, unless people adopt new behaviors. Therefore, there is a need to spread learning on best practices to implement cost effective water, sanitation and hygiene models, which bring about change at home and in the community at scale. This paper highlights key issues that arose in presentations and group discussions during the conference, which, can lead to substantial improvements in the provision of a multi-sector approach to hindering sustainable water and sanitation services for all.