Transboundary Water Sharing and the Need for Public Management

Abstract

Water is one of the most vital of all resources for human survival and thriving. Water is also an inherently shared resource, one that does not respect human boundaries—boundaries between persons, between communities, and between states and nations. Because of these characteristics, water management must always focus on boundaries—on how to allocate water within and across boundaries as well as how those boundaries impact upon optimum water management in general. This raises questions about how to structure water management and water laws to best manage the water. In particular, there is a constant stress between the need to meet private goals and the need to serve public needs when the focus is on boundaries. In the end, water is an inherently public good that must be subject to a regime of public management that subordinates private uses to policies necessary to meet public needs.