Sharing water: Evolution, threats and challenges

Lusotopie

Volumn 16, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 177-191

  Lopes, Paula Duarte ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COIMBRA   (Portugal)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77950773987     PISSN: 12570273     EISSN: 17683084     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/176830809788553048     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. P.D. Lopes, Water with Borders: Social Goods, the Market and Mobilization, Baltimore (USA), The Johns Hopkins University, PhD thesis, 2005.
2. A. Quintela & J. Mascarenhas, "Barrages romains du Portugal. Types et fonctions", Le partage de l'eau..., Water with Borders: Social Goods, the Market and Mobilization, Baltimore (USA). op. cit.: 30.
3. J. Sohnle, Le droit international des ressources en eau douce: solidarité contre souveraineté, Paris (France), La documentation française, 2002: 13.
4. P. Cressier, "Géométrie des réseaux et marqueurs des territoires. L'image du partage de l'eau dans le paysage médiéval (Espagne et Maroc)", Le partage de l'eau..., La documentation française. op. cit.: 50.
5. L. Moral Ituarte & R. Silva Perez, "Grandes zonas regables y reparto del agua en España. El caso de la cuenca del Guadalquivir", Le partage de l'eau..., La documentation française. op. cit.: 125-126.
6. A. Quintela & J. Mascarenhas, "Barrages romains...", La documentation française. op. cit.: 17-38;
7. P. Cressier, "Géométrie des réseaux..., La documentation française. op. cit.: 39-59;
8. T. Madani, "Le partage de l'eau dans l'oasis de Figuig (Maroc oriental). Approche historique et archéologique", Le partage de l'eau..., op. cit.: 61-82.
9. T. Madani, "Le partage de l'eau...", Le partage de l'eau.... op. cit.: 61-82;
10. G. Lemeunier, "Les maîtres de l'eau. Propriété et gestion hydraulique dans la Murcie moderne (v.1500-v.1800)", Le partage de l'eau..., op. cit.: 83-106;
11. F. Wateau, "Du préciput au partage égalitaire. Exemple portugais de transmission des droits d'eau de la fin du xixe siècle à nos jours (Melgaço, Alto Minho)", Le partage de l'eau..., op. cit.: 107-124.
12. L. Moral Ituarte & R. Silva Perez, "Grandes zonas regables...", Le partage de l'eau. op. cit.: 125-147;
13. S. Clarimont, "Partager les eaux de l'Èbre. La presse aragonaise contre les projets de transfert", Le partage de l'eau..., op. cit.: 149-170.
14. P. Cressier, "Géométrie des réseaux...", Le partage de l'eau.... op. cit.: 48.
15. I. Shiklomanov, "Appraisal and Assessment of World Water Resources", Water International, XV (1), 2000: 11-32.
16. L. Moral Ituarte & R. Silva Perez, "Grandes zonas regables...", op cit.
17. An economic private good means its consumption is rival and excludable, i.e. one can physically prevent others from consuming water and one's consumption diminishes the amount of water available for others to consume. Whereas an economic public good means that a good's consumption is not rival or excludable. The classical examples are domestic security or a light house, and this is independently of the property rights regime associated with that good.
18. S. Clarimont, "Partager les eaux de l'Èbre...", op. cit.: 152.
19. It should be noted that many countries, until the Second World War, did not have an explicit legal definition of water property rights. Water either did not have a property rights system - res nullius - or was assumed to be under the general natural resources property rights system if one existed. The reasons underlying this change are not the object of this research, but the author believes that the confluence of environmental movements and the unprecedented emergence of numerous new democratic regimes created the conditions for new constitutions to include an explicit mention to water itself, and for older democratic regimes to enact legisla tion dedicated to natural resources and/or water.
20. Public property can be interpreted in one of three ways: people's or nation's property, which cannot be subject to any form of property; public property per se, which confers the state the right to manage water, but those rights cannot be disposed of; and private property of the state, which allows the state to act as any private economic actor. Popov, D., "Consideration on Current Issues in Contemporary Water Law", in Regional Conference on Water Law: Legal Aspects of Sustainable Water Resources Management, Teslic (Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina), 2001.
21. D. Caponera, "Existing Systems of Water Law in the World.", Paper presented at the Regional Conference on Water Law: Legal Aspects of Sustainable Water Resources Management, Teslic, Republic of Servia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2001: 3.
22. Ibid. Although the United States have a common law system, and the res communes nature of water has strongly influenced the Eastern states, in some Western states, a different principle has been developed: the prior appropriation principle - the first to claim and use the water is entitled to it.
23. F. Chatel, Prophet Mohammed: A Pionner of the Environment, 2003, available from accessed February 14, 2005 .
24. H. Shuval, "Sustainable Water Development under Conditions of Scarcity: Israel as a Study Case", in S. Marchisio, G. Tamburelli & L. Pecoraro (eds), Sustainable Development and Management of Water Resources: A Legal Framework for the Mediterranean, Rome, Institute for Legal Studies on the International Community - CNR, Mediterranean Sustainable Development Law - Mesdel, 1999: 197.
25. Emwis, Palestine: Institutional Framework of the Water Sector, Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water sector, 2005, available from accessed February 14, 2005 .
26. Emwis, Palestine: Institutional Framework of the Water Sector, Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water sector, 2005, available from accessed February 14, Ibid.
27. P. Cressier, "Géométrie des réseaux...", Palestine: Institutional Framework of the Water Sector Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water sector. op. cit.: 41.
28. T. Madani, "Le partage de l'eau dans l'oasis de Figuig...", Palestine: Institutional Framework of the Water Sector Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water secto. op. cit.: 77.
29. T. Madani. Le partage de l'eau dans l'oasis de Figuig... Palestine: Institutional Framework of the Water Sector Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water secto. Ibid.: 78.
30. G. Lemeunier, "Les maîtres de l'eau...", op. cit.Palestine: Institutional Framework of the Water Sector Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water secto. : 85.
31. A morgadio is "the group of goods, which cannot be sold or separated, attached to a noble title, transferred, with the title, to the oldest of a family"; these goods cannot be sold, exchanged, rented, mortgaged or donated or even used to pay debts ( F. Wateau, "Du préciput au partage égalitaire...", Palestine: Institutional Framework of the Water Sector Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water sector. op. cit.: 113).
32. International Joint Commission, Protection of the Waters of the Great Lakes - Final Report on the Governments of Canada and the United States, Washington, D.C., Ottawa, 2000: 6.
33. The Great Lakes hold around one fifth of the world's fresh water resources Protection of the Waters of the Great Lakes - Final Report on the Governments of Canada and the United States. (Ibid.: 1).
34. The rate of extraction of water is higher than the rate of natural replenishment of aqui fers. As the level of water decreases, the probability of pollution through infiltration and salini- zation increase.
35. F. Trelease, "Policies for Water Law: Property Rights, Economic Forces, and Public Regulation", Natural Resources Journal (University of New Mexico School of Law), V (1), May 1965: 6.
36. C. Rose, "The Comedy of the Commons: Custom, Commerce, and Inherently Public Property", University of Chicago Law Review, 53, 1986: 712.
37. Marketization, privatization and commodification are here considered as different processes, albeit related. Marketization is the process by which private actors are allowed to participate in a certain economic activity and prices are charged for the product in question. Privatization is the process by which an economic activity shifts into private hands. Commodification is the process by which something becomes a tradable good in the market. In my understanding, water privatization has never occurred. Water's property and services have never permanently shifted into private hands.
38. International Conference on Water and the Environment, The Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development, World Meteorological Organization, 1992, available from accessed 10 February, 2005.
39. A. Quintela & J. Mascarenhas, "Barrages romains...", International Conference on Water and the Environment. op. cit.: 28.
40. A. Hart, "Atlanta Shutting Off Water as It Tries to Collect $35 Million Overdue", New York Times, 3 November, 2004: 13.
41. A. Hart, "Atlanta Shutting Off Water as It Tries to Collect $35 Million Overdue", New York Times, 3 November, 2004: 13.Ibid.
42. L. Moral Ituarte & R. Silva Perez, "Grandes zonas regables...", New York Times. op. cit.: 142.
43. Ituarte L.M. Perez R.S., Grandes zonas regables...New York Times, 142, Ibid.
44. In the original: Association pour le Contrat Mondial de l'Eau (ACME).
45. For example, the water multinational Bechtel saw its contract for the Bolivian Cochabamba water utility annulled in 2000, after water charges increased dramatically, and the population reacted violently. In 2005, the Bolivian government succumbed once again in face of major protests over the contract signed between the French water multinational Suez and the El Alto water utility in the La Paz region. The demands were for an expansion of the water supply coverage and against the increase of water charges.
46. For an in-depth analysis of Bolivia, France and Canada see P. D. Lopes, Water with Borders: Social Goods, the Market and Mobilization, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University, PhD thesis, 2005.
47. On 31 October 2004, "more than 60 percent [of Uruguayans] came out in favour of introducing a constitutional clause stating that 'water is a natural resources essential to life' and that access to piped water and sanitation services are 'fundamental human rights' " (R. Pierri, Uruguay: erendum Gives Resounding 'No' to the Privatisation of Water, Inter Press Service News Agency, 2004, available from accessed 18 August 2005). The result of the erendum also included the decision that "piped water will be supplied [...] 'exclusively and directly by state-owned legal entities', and concessions to private firms will be cancelled" (ibid.).
48. For example, the World Bank used private sector participation in Bolivian water utilities and the implementation and/or increase of water charges as both a means of pressure and explicit conditions of aid. For a vivid account of this dynamics see C. Crespo Flores, La guerra del agua de Cochabamba: Cinco lecciones para las luchas anti neoliberales en Bolivia, available from accessed February 2, 2005
49. C. Crespo Flores, El Banco Mundial Sócio de Águas del Illimani: sus implicaciones y riesgos, available from accessed February 3, 2005
50. and J. Schultz, "The Politics of Water in Bolivia", The Nation (web only), posted on January 28, 2005.
51. Water in bulk is transported by pipes, canals, tankers, floating bags. According to Canadian legislation, water trade is considered bulk when transported in containers bigger than 20-30 liters.
52. The Harmonized System was established by the World Customs Organization (WCO). The system is used to classify goods traded internationally and came into force in 1988 for the WCO member countries (currently 166).
53. World Customs Organization, Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, 2005.
54. P. Annin, The Great Lakes Water Wars, Washington, D.C., Island Press, 2006
55. M. Villiers, Water: the Fate of our Most Precious Resource, New York, Mariner Books, 2001;
56. D. Ward, Water Wars, New York, Penguin Group, 2003;
57. T. Homer-Dixon & J. Blitt (eds), Ecoviolence: Links Among Environment, Population and Security, Lanham, Rowan & Liittlefield Publishers, 1998;
58. A. Wolf, " ' Water Wars' and Violence", Princeton, Princeton University, 1999.
59. V. Shiva, Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit, Cambridge, South End Press, 2002.
60. A. Wolf, " 'Water Wars' and Other Tales of Hydromythology" in B. McDonald & D. Jehl (eds), Whose Water is It? The Unquenchable Thirst of a Water-Hungry World, Washington D.C., National Geographic, 2003: 109-124.
61. P. Gleick, The World's Water 1998-1999: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, Washington, D.C., Island Press, 1998.
62. A. Wolf, Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database - International Freshwater Treaties Database, 2005, available from accessed February 9, 2005;
63. A. Wolf, "'Water Wars'...", Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database - International Freshwater Treaties Database. op. cit.
64. A. Wolf, "'Water Wars'...", Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database - International Freshwater Treaties Database. op. cit.
65. T. Homer-Dixon & J. Blitt (eds), Ecoviolence..., Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database - International Freshwater Treaties Database. op. cit.
66. A. Wolf, " 'Water Wars'...", Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database - International Freshwater Treaties Database. op. cit.
67. P. Gleick (ed.), The World's Water 2006-2007: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, Washington D.C., Island Press: 2006;
68. A. Wolf, " 'Water Wars...' ", The World's Water 2006-2007: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, op. cit.
69. A. Wolf, "'Water Wars'...", The World's Water 2006-2007: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. op. cit.
70. A. Wolf, "'Water Wars'...", The World's Water 2006-2007: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. Ibid.: 118.
71. P. Cressier, "Géométrie des réseaux...", The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. op. cit.: 40.
72. Cressier P., Géométrie des réseaux... The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, 40 Ibid.
73. Cressier P., Géométrie des réseaux... The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, 40 Ibid.
74. M. R. Freire & P. D. Lopes, "Rethinking Peace and Violence", paper presented at the 49th International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Francisco (USA), 26-29 March, 2008.
75. A. Wolf, " 'Water Wars'...", 49th International Studies Association Annual Convention. op. cit.
76. T. Homer-Dixon, The Ingenuity Gap: Facing the Economic, Environmental, and Other Challenges of an Increasingly Complex and Unpredictable Future, Knopf, 2000.
77. F. Lasserre, "Le partage de l'eau dans le monde : un enjeu majeur du xxie siècle", Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez (Madrid), XXXVI (2), 2006: 177.