Internationally there is growíng understandingt hat water rights are important and that a lack of effectivew ater rights systemsc reatesm ajor problemsf or the management of increasingly scarce water supplies. In South Africa the smallll,otderi rrigation'sector faces two major challenges.F irstly water use is inefficient and sècondly government, which in the past invested huge amounts of money in the sector, targets improved cost recovery. Improving the definition of the water rights system can have a positive effect with regard to these challenges. At one hand improvements in the definition of water rights can stimulate smallholders to use water more productively, encouraging cooperation and investment; at the other hand an improved watef- rights system increases willingness to pay for water,a llowing governmentto chargeh igher water prices and thus improve cost recovery. This study proposes contingent ranking to analyset he willingnesst o pay of smallholderir rigatorsf or changesin the water rights system.R esultsi ndicatet hat smallholdersa re preparedt o pay considerably higher water prices if thesep rices are connectedw ith advancementsin the water riàtrts system. In a second step the sample population was stratified to evaluate th" imiact of smallholder characteristics on their willingness to pay. The importance attachedt o different dimensionso f water rights clearly differs among gròops. For example farmers suffering water shortages attach more importance to secure water supply. Policy makers can use such results to guide reforms in the designo f waterrights andt o increasep ublic supportf or interventions.