Water is a Girl’s Best Friend: Examining the Water Valuation Dilemma

Water allocation is currently controlled by policy that assigns a property right and hopes to protect the resource and its users. Markets can help fill this void and increase efficiency by assigning an accurate value to the good and dictating how the water is transferred and used. Unfortunately, current markets lack the ability to send an accurate price signal that reflects the true value of water, leading to unintended consequences that could rapidly deplete resources rather than protect them. For the market to be accurate in pricing water, all costs must be included, allowing consumers to make an informed decision. Presently, consumers pay little for water, not allowing for considerations such as the dewatering of ecosystems and resource sustainability. Until price matches value, the increased use of markets will cause more harm than good. Market adjustments need to be made in the municipal sector to allow providers to set their rates in a way that does not simply recoup costs, but actually encourages conservation and efficiency. Water shortages are becoming more common as competition for access increases. Markets can be a useful corollary to policy, but only if they have appropriate inputs to convert price signal. Market adjustment that must be made include internalizing the values of water such as ecosystems in the price so dewatering takes these impacts into consideration. Further, municipal water price structures need the ability to expand cost of service inclusions

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Water: Evaluating Water as a Human Right and the Duties and Obligations it Creates

The Right to Water should be an independent, explicit human right. As such, the status of the right to water would be raised to the status of customary international law (jus cogens), imposing an affirmative, obligatory duty an all nations. Historically the right to water has been included in the right to life, limiting the right; however, that approach undermines the essential importance of water and causes enforcement problems that would be avoided by regarding water as an independent right. Landmark international agreements, treatises, and the work of various international entities and other non-governmental organizations have made tremendous strides in instituting the right to water as an important issue. Still more progress is needed. The United Nations (“UN”) adopted two pivotal human rights covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”), and the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (“ICESCR”), which explain the human rights guaranteed by the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) and, in doing so, gave rise to Comment No. 15, which regards water as “one of the most fundamental conditions for survival,” supporting its recognition as an independent human right which is divisible into three categories: availability, quality, and accessibility. Water, as a fundamental condition for life, should be regarded as an independent, explicit right, elevating the right to the status of a customary international law, imposing an obligatory duty and best satisfying human needs

Whose Job Is It Anyway?: Governmental Obligations Created by the Human Right to Water

The importance of water is difficult to quantify, but because it is necessary for survival, it deserves recognition as a human right. Although the right to water has received considerable attention, it has not yet achieved the status of customary international law. If the human right to water becomes an accepted norm of international law, there could be differing consequences for governments. A human right is enforceable by a citizen against her government by investigating intragovernmental responsibilities in different contexts, including times of peace and more complicated relationships, such as those created in times of conflict or belligerent occupation. Different enforcement mechanisms to ensure obligations are met should be put in place. If the right to water becomes a human right, governments may be obligated to provide water beyond their borders. A state unable to meet its needs could demand assistance from a neighbor state, especially in situations involving economic inequities or shared water resources. During conflict, governments would be prohibited from damaging water resources. After conflict, the belligerent would be required to protect and fulfill the water needs of the occupied state. Enforcement of these obligations could be achieved at the national or international level, or by horizontal enforcement

Water is a Girl's Best Friend: Examining the Water Valuation Dilemma

This is the published version

Landowners Under Siege in the Big Bend

It is safe to say that property rights are sacred in Texas. Nowhere is this truer than in the Big Bend region of Texas. In 2012, the Texas Attorney General’s Office issued a Landowner’s Bill of Rights specifying all the protections each of us has against government interference, including the taking of property under eminent domain. One of the requirements for land condemnation is that it be for a public use. This is to ensure that the burden placed on a few will benefit the larger community; however, the mechanisms for balancing private property rights against the public good are now being exploited by profit-driven companies. The so-called TransPecos pipeline proposed by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners calls for a 125-foot-wide trench to be cleared across approximately 143 miles of private property in some of the most pristine country in Texas. A channel also will be tunneled beneath the Rio Grande River. While Texas landowners will be burdened by this pipeline, they will not receive the benefits. This pipeline was commissioned by the Federal Electricity Commission of Mexico, a foreign entity. For landowners who resist, the multibillion-dollar company is filing for grant of a temporary restraining order and injunction against the resistant landowner, along with a civil lawsuit, seeking damages of $100,000, legal fees, court costs and a threat of eminent domain condemnation. This is not only unfair, it’s un-Texan. Surely, this is not what was intended when landowner protections were enumerated by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The proposed TransPecos pipeline creates a dangerous precedent for private property rights holders all over Texas. Big Bend may seem like a world away from here, but the next pipeline might be in your backyard

What Lies Beneath: Determining the Necessity of International Groundwater Policy Along the United States - - Mexico Border and a Roadmap to an Agreement (Comment)

The United States and Mexico share water in many aquifers along the border. Although significant attention has been given to international surface water, little to no policy has been generated regarding shared groundwater. Groundwater is a resource of growing importance because surface water resources are quickly being depleted. While there are almost no international agreements for groundwater, guidance documents suggest what should be included. Increased dependence on groundwater by both sides of the border creates the potential for conflict because the only legal framework for water allocation involves surface water. The US and Mexico must shift from passive to active policy decision-making. Once this shift in thinking occurs, regional groundwater agreements can be created using a community-based approach to protect the survival of affected communities. Agreements must include cooperation, data sharing, equitable utilization, the interrelationship of groundwater and surface water, and enforcement mechanisms

Why We Do the Things We Do?: The Role of Ethics in Water Resource Planning

This paper evaluates the role of ethics in decision-making and how it could impact water resource management. Part II provides an overview of ethics, its sources, and how it can impact decisions and policy. Part III examines ethical theories that could apply to water decision-making. Understanding the basics of ethics is critical in recognizing the mechanisms available to impact decisionmaking, as well as how ethics can be used to provide water for people in need. Part IV applies ethical theory to water in an effort to understand the relationship between ethics, water planning, and other related decisions. The purpose of this section is to ascertain the extent to which ethics can impact decision-makers with regard to water. One way is in existing laws; therefore, this section reviews various domestic and international laws regarding water that have ethical implications. Examining a subset of international law, it discusses the potential for a human right to water. As morality-driven directives, human rights provide an excellent example of how ethics and decisions can coincide. The conclusion discusses how ethics can be used to successfully impact decision-making in a way that will place emphasis on the long-term sustainability of people while also providing for their needs in the present

Forgetting Nature: The Importance of Including Environmental Flows in International Water Agreements

From the moment States created political boundaries to define their territory, they have shared water. There are 263 transboundary lake and river basins worldwide and 300 known transboundary aquifer systems. Whenever sharing is present, the opportunity for conflict is too. Climate change and increasing population are only two factors that may lead to increasing conflict if attention is not given to these situations. Thankfully, sharing water also creates an opportunity for cooperation. Throughout the world, there are increasing examples of conflict and cooperation regarding shared water resources. International water agreements can promote regional peace and security and encourage economic growth. By asking States to cooperate, they must account for their current and future uses within the natural system, which can lead to the best use of the water. An agreement can ensure continued cooperation in low water years or support data collection and sharing because a transboundary relationship already exists. Without an agreement, decisions can become reactive and lead to inefficiencies. First, States need to come together to determine a use and allocation agreement for their shared water. One aspect of this discussion must be how the water is currently being used. Historically, this part of the data gathering and subsequent agreement focused only on human usage of water. This is a mistake if the goal of the agreement is continued sustainability and economic success of the signatory States. To achieve this goal, more must be considered. Humans are not the only users of water. Water is also utilized by related ecosystems. Therefore, to truly achieve a successful agreement, States must assess the local natural environment and quantify how their countries benefit from the ecosystems services it provides. Accuracy in this endeavor depends heavily on scientific data and stakeholder involvement. Once the physical system is understood, agreement terms can be written for its protection. These should include managing the water as part of a larger system, including the recharge features, tributaries, associated groundwater, and any related fragile ecosystems. In particular, for shared surface water, environmental flows provisions that create a healthy flow regime are critical. Using these holistic mechanisms, States are better positioned to respond to climatic variations and other variables that may not yet be expected

Panel: Ethics-Based Decision-Making in Societal Water Management

There is an ethical overlay to water-related decision-making and management, frequently drawing on personal experiences with water and the ubiquitous need for water. The modern South African Bill of Rights, ensuring its people’s access to water; the movement towards recognizing water as a basic human right; and even occurrences in Texas, including the passage of “environmental flows legislation” and the efforts to preserve and protect the Edwards Aquifer, reflect the presence of ethics in decision-making with respect to water management. Ethics are a part of water management decision-making