This thesis focuses on local water institutions and practical management arrangements in North West Thailand through the lens of governance in order to begin to establish how the transition to more sustainable water management might be undertaken. Adaptive governance is advanced as a potent means of delivering more sustainable management by providing the flexibility and adaptability to respond to abrupt environmental change, while enhancing participatory and learning opportunities for stakeholders. Insights from the literature on socio-spatial relations are employed to compliment the use of governance concepts by providing insight into the territorial organization of water supply and delivery within the study area, specifically the all-important role of space and socio-spatial relations on day-to-day water management. Data collection methods comprised: (i) 192 face-to-face in-depth semi-structured interviews with key actors; (ii) 20 questionnaires distributed to actors from Joint Management Committee for Irrigation (JMC); (iii) four group discussions with actors from a state-led irrigation project; and (iv) 20 remote interviews with four administrator groups. The analysis identifies the importance of ‘middle ground’ organization as a strategic policy goal to encourage more sustainable water management, set against the pragmatic reality of escalating future demand for water from multiple users at different levels and scales.