10.1 Water Quantity Management and Water Allocation
131
water sharing arrangement has been developed between Finland and the Russian
Federation under the 1964 Finnish-Soviet frontier water agreement for the Vuoksi
river basin that also includes the Lake Saimaa in Finland.
27 In accordance with a
side agreement, the so-called Discharge Rule upstream Finland and downstream
Russia cooperate closely so as to maintain the flow quantity of the Vuoksi River
in a “normal zone”, defined by the Rule with reference to historically prevailing
natural flow volumes.
28 Should extreme floods or extreme low water levels appear,
discharge rates are adjusted by Finland with a view to minimising adverse effects.
Finland monitors the flow conditions continuously and forecasts indicative discharge
rates. The discharge programme is negotiated annually by the two riparian states.
According to commentators the water sharing scheme under the Discharge Rule has
proved highly beneficial for both countries (Belinskij 2015).
Less specific is the 1966 Austrian-Swiss-German agreement concerning withdrawals from the Lake Constance
29 that mainly defines principles and procedures
that riparian states must follow when planning to abstract water from the lake beyond
a certain quantity. Finally, there are a number of bilateral water frontier treaties that
reinstate the rights of riparian states for the use of water quantities defined by “existing water rights” or lay down a 50–50% rule for sharing transboundary river flows
(Wolf 1999).
10.1.4 Evaluation
The main conclusion that can be drawn from the above analysis is that transboundary
water allocation considerations are almost completely absent from European water
law. As such, the European model represents an outlier in the broader global context
as, until relatively recently, the evolution of water treaties has been largely shaped
by water quantity management issues worldwide (Giordano et al. 2014).
The dominance of ecological issues in contemporary European water law could
have very well been justified by the abundance of freshwater in north-western European countries—the core states of European integration—as well as by the prevalence
of cross-border pollution issues in the first decades of the development of UNECE/EU
water policy. In other words: the character of the collective action problems in coriparian relations did not demand much attention to the question of water allocation
at the time.
The relative recent stability of co-riparian relations in Europe has also given rise
to a widely held view that wherever allocation issues nonetheless do arise (mainly
in the Iberian Peninsula), they tend to be bilateral and/or use-specific in nature.
Consequently, goes the conventional judgement, they are better left to be resolved by
27 Agreement between the Republic of Finland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Concerning Frontier Watercourses, Helsinki, 24 April 1964.
28 Vuoksi Agreement on Discharge Rule in Lake Saimaa and the Vuoksi River, 1989.
29 Agreement Regulating the Withdrawal of Water From Lake Constance, Bern, 30 April 1966.
131
water sharing arrangement has been developed between Finland and the Russian
Federation under the 1964 Finnish-Soviet frontier water agreement for the Vuoksi
river basin that also includes the Lake Saimaa in Finland.
27 In accordance with a
side agreement, the so-called Discharge Rule upstream Finland and downstream
Russia cooperate closely so as to maintain the flow quantity of the Vuoksi River
in a “normal zone”, defined by the Rule with reference to historically prevailing
natural flow volumes.
28 Should extreme floods or extreme low water levels appear,
discharge rates are adjusted by Finland with a view to minimising adverse effects.
Finland monitors the flow conditions continuously and forecasts indicative discharge
rates. The discharge programme is negotiated annually by the two riparian states.
According to commentators the water sharing scheme under the Discharge Rule has
proved highly beneficial for both countries (Belinskij 2015).
Less specific is the 1966 Austrian-Swiss-German agreement concerning withdrawals from the Lake Constance
29 that mainly defines principles and procedures
that riparian states must follow when planning to abstract water from the lake beyond
a certain quantity. Finally, there are a number of bilateral water frontier treaties that
reinstate the rights of riparian states for the use of water quantities defined by “existing water rights” or lay down a 50–50% rule for sharing transboundary river flows
(Wolf 1999).
10.1.4 Evaluation
The main conclusion that can be drawn from the above analysis is that transboundary
water allocation considerations are almost completely absent from European water
law. As such, the European model represents an outlier in the broader global context
as, until relatively recently, the evolution of water treaties has been largely shaped
by water quantity management issues worldwide (Giordano et al. 2014).
The dominance of ecological issues in contemporary European water law could
have very well been justified by the abundance of freshwater in north-western European countries—the core states of European integration—as well as by the prevalence
of cross-border pollution issues in the first decades of the development of UNECE/EU
water policy. In other words: the character of the collective action problems in coriparian relations did not demand much attention to the question of water allocation
at the time.
The relative recent stability of co-riparian relations in Europe has also given rise
to a widely held view that wherever allocation issues nonetheless do arise (mainly
in the Iberian Peninsula), they tend to be bilateral and/or use-specific in nature.
Consequently, goes the conventional judgement, they are better left to be resolved by
27 Agreement between the Republic of Finland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Concerning Frontier Watercourses, Helsinki, 24 April 1964.
28 Vuoksi Agreement on Discharge Rule in Lake Saimaa and the Vuoksi River, 1989.
29 Agreement Regulating the Withdrawal of Water From Lake Constance, Bern, 30 April 1966.