台灣山區原住民長期面臨缺水與供水不穩定的問題，如何找出適當的水資源管理模式以成為當務之急。在思索水資源管理議題上，本文認為位於陳有蘭溪流域的布農族Kalibuan社區是一個值得參考與學習的案例，社區不但擁有營運健全的水資源機制與規章，還有少見的共同灌溉系統。在關於社區共同灌溉系統運作的田野調查（2011年到2014年）基礎上，以及在結合「行動者網絡理論」與財產關係的人類學研究的理論脈絡上，首先，本文探討由塑膠水管、水塔與因天災而毀壞的水圳所構成的水利基礎設施（infrastructure）如何形成一個由人（human）與非人（nonhuman）行動者所共構的網絡，並探討該網絡如何被鑲嵌在在地的政治、文化與社會脈絡之中。其次，本文闡明在建造與營運社區共同灌溉基礎設施網絡的過程中，不同類型的（至少涉及個人與集體的和社區與社區之間）動態財產協商；說明這些財產協商不但形成關於社區水資源的擁有方式與型式，同時也定義了社區水資源管理範圍的邊界。本文認為社區能定義出水資源管理範圍邊界是形成有效管理機制、水利社會與形塑水利公民的關鍵。最後，本文分析族人如何從布農族文化觀點來反思既有的水資源管理模式，藉此說明社區如何在既有的基礎上思索更適合於布農族文化與社會的管理模式。本文認為若要反思現有的山區水資源問題與尋找解決方案，必須從在地脈絡的視野探索因應每個特殊的文化、社會、政治與自然環境的合適水資源管理模式。

Based on ethnographic research from 2011 to 2014 in Kalibuan community, in the Chenyuland River Catchment in Taiwan, this article examines how indigenous people have constructed and shaped their own irrigation system and methods of water management. This case study has significant implications for addressing problems relating to water access in indigenous communities. The majority of residents in Kalibuan community are from the Bunun people, and their communal irrigation system is unique. Generally, most communities in mountain areas do not use communal irrigation systems; rather, farmers individually maintain private, small-scale irrigation systems. As a consequence, many communities have experienced water shortage and conflicts over access to water. This article focuses in particular on how engagement with the infrastructure of irrigation systems is experienced and interpreted within local social, political, and cultural contexts. Drawing on theoretical insights from Actant-Network theory and anthropological perspectives on property relations and ownership, I describe how interactions between actors are involved in the dynamic processes of property negotiations. This research suggests that property negotiations not only generate ongoing ways of owning and using water, but also define a geographical and ideological boundary in the community’s irrigation infrastructure network. I argue that this boundary is key to enabling residents to form effective methods of water management, to turning their community into a ‘hydro-society’, and to shaping good ‘hydro-citizens’. Finally, this article discusses Bunun thinking in relation to irrigation infrastructure, and how they have attempted to find better ways of water management that reflect Bunun concepts of ‘human-water’ relations, social structure, and culture.