Administration and Institutional Provisions of Water Sharing Agreements

Abstract

The effectiveness of any law, regulation, contract, or legally enforceable agreement, regardless of the subject matter, depends on how effectively it is administered and how rigorously its provisions are enforced. Water sharing agreements are no different. The importance of the administration and institutional provisions of a water sharing agreement cannot be overemphasized. Without effective administration, implementation of the agreement to share water will falter and enforcement of its provisions will be limited. Without an effective institutional framework, the parties will spend much of their time and resources in dispute resolution rather than effective water management. These institutional provisions will involve far more than just engineering management of the water resources in question. They must also involve establishing procedures to manage complicated coordination among a number of private and public institutions, addressing critical social and cultural issues, and responding to complex environmental and ecological sustainability needs. A review of the historical record of both international and American water sharing institutions provides specific organizational design principles that are important for developing effective water sharing agreements. These organizational design principles should provide the framework for the agreement. Within this framework, the specifics of the water sharing agreement will be based on certain salient features of governance, to include agreement purposes and objectives, rules of decision, assignment of powers and duties, accountability and responsiveness, compliance, and dispute resolution.