Which rule should prevail in international water disputes: That of reasonableness or that of no harm?

Natural Resources Journal

Volumn 36, Issue 3 PART 1, 1996, Pages 635-641

  Utton, Albert E ^a,b  

^a Transboundary Resources Center

^b UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 21744441969     PISSN: 00280739     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of its Forty-Sixth Session, U.N. GAOR, 49 Session, Supp. No.10 at 197, UN. Doc A/49/10 1994 (hereinafter 1994 ILC Report).
2. McCaffrey, Stephen C., An Assessment of the Work of the International Law Commission, 36 Nat. Resources J. 297, 307 (1996).
3. McCaffrey, Stephen C., An Assessment of the Work of the International Law Commission, 36 Nat. Resources J. Id. 297 (1996).
4. See Albert Utton, 5 Water and Water Rights o49.03(c) (Robert Beck ed., 1991).
5. Id.
6. McCaffrey supra note 2 at 309.
7. Id.
8. Paragraph 21 of the Commentary to Article 7, 1994. ILC Report at 244.
9. Wouters, Patricia, An Assessment of Recent Developments in International Watercourse Law Through the Prism of the Substantive Rules Governing Use Allocation. 36 Nat. Resources J. 417, 424 (1996).
10. Id. at 423
11. International Law Association Report of the Fifty-Second Conference held at Helsinki, 1966, Art. V(2)(k).
12. Article 7(2).
13. Utton, supra note 4.
14. Id.
15. Id. at §49.01.
16. Id at §49.03(a).
17. Id at §49.05.
18. Paragraph 21 of Commentary to Article 7, 1964 Helsinki Report at 244.
19. Paragraph 2(1)(2) to Article 7.
20. Paragraph 5 to Article 7.
21. See Wouters, supra at note 9, at 424.
22. Paragraph 3, Commentary to Article 21(2).
23. Admittedly it is not easy to separate quantity from quality scientifically; for example, diversions and consumptive use may reduce the quantity of water available for the dilution of salts thus affecting the salinity and thus quality of water. Also the environmental community would not likely be confident that environmental factors would be valued sufficiently in the balancing of the equities of the Helsinki Rules.
24. Wouters supra note 9, at 424.
25. Id.
26. McCaffrey, supra note 2, at 308.
27. New material is underlined.
28. Article 20 provides that "Watercourses States shall, individually or jointly protect and preserve the ecosystems of international watercourses."
29. McCaffrey, supra note 2, at 308.
30. See discussion of McCaffrey, supra note 2, at 318.