Assessing the Functionality of Transboundary Water Compacts, Decrees, and Agreements in the United States

Abstract

As development proceeds, transboundary water conflicts will intensify due to new dams, diversions, and urbanization, as well as climate change and lack of cooperation. Water treaties, compacts, decrees, and agreements will be integral to solutions at all scales. Making them work is challenging, but essential. The paper examines a set of compacts, US Supreme Court rulings, and other agreements to identify lessons and insights for water governance in transboundary situations. Water compacts in the West are usually to allocate water resources equitably between states, and in the East, they focus on water quality or flood control goals. A recent Supreme Court ruling extends their possible application to groundwater. The situations examined ranged across different regions, types of problems, and institutional arrangements to include state-to-state, terminal lake, multistate rivers, and unique cases. While the compacts do not work perfectly and their allocation formulas may be rigid, they have been somewhat effective as focal points for negotiation. However, their future is uncertain, and the effort expended in cooperation will be symptomatic of the effectiveness of shared water governance.