Sustainable use of water resources in the agricultural sector is crucial for dealing with the water scarcity problem. Accordingly, water use in agriculture is the topic under discussion. Being among the tools for assessing sustainability, indicators can foster actions that can contribute to implementing sustainability. As with all the indicators, the effectiveness of the indicators for water use in agriculture is desirable. By effectiveness it is understood that through monitoring and evaluation, indicators can have an effect on the behaviour of stakeholders, who develop, manage and use water resources, in order to engage them in collective action for sustainable water use. The results of a field study in Harran Plain, a region in the Southeast Turkey, demonstrate that lack of stakeholder participation during the development of indicators for water use in agriculture is among the reasons for the resulting ineffectiveness of the indicators. It is also observed that lack of participation of stakeholders during the development of indicators has implications about the resulting outcomes, which indicate the lack of an integrated approach for managing water resources and a resulting collective action problem of unsustainable water use in the field study region. It is concluded that integrated approaches to water management, which adopt participation as a core principle and reflect on the economic, social, institutional and ecological dimensions of sustainability, can bring about not only effective indicators of sustainable water use, but also long-term achievements.