134
10 The Resilience of Transboundary Water Governance …
Institutionalisation of cross-border water quality management has several stages.
In her comprehensive survey of water treaties Meredith Giordano clusters quality
control mechanisms into three categories:
– an indefinite commitment by riparian states to some aspects of water quality management,
– arrangements that define water quality-related actions but lack specific standards
or a comprehensive management framework,
– arrangements with detailed water quality standards, actions plans and/or comprehensive management frameworks (Giordano 2003).
Importantly, water quality management is not limited to pollution prevention
and control. More advanced regimes also address broader environmental and social
aspects, going far beyond the actual chemical status of the transboundary water body
concerned. In fact, such comprehensive ecological requirements as the consideration of ecosystem services have become regular treaty features in the past decade,
displaying an almost exponential growth in recent water treaties (Giordano et al.
2014). The spectacular expansion of water quality management considerations in
water treaties is no doubt a token of the growing importance of pollution control and
riverine ecology in the stability of hydropolitical relations.
10.2.2 Water Quality Protection in International Water Law
Although water quality and the environment have risen to dominance in transboundary water agreements only relatively lately, water pollution considerations have
indeed shaped the evolution of the basic principles of contemporary water law significantly right from the outset (Giordano 2003). Yet, qualitative requirements in water
treaties started to expand drastically only since the 1950s. Ever since the number
of agreements addressing water quality issues has multiplied almost tenfold. Even
more spectacular is the recent emergence of broader environmental considerations
into the forefront of transboundary treaty-making: since 1990 three quarters of all
new international agreements contained some reference to the protection of the environment. A recent survey on the key features of water treaties by Mark Giordano
et al. found over 160 existing water agreements that include some language on water
quality management and/or environmental services (Giordano et al. 2014).
The general requirements of international law regarding water quality protection
in a transboundary context are accurately summarised by the 1997 UN Watercourses
Convention. The Convention deals with water quality and environmental questions
extensively. In the first place, the overarching principles of equitable and reasonable
utilisation, the no-harm rule as well as the general cooperation obligation explicitly
call for the “adequate protection of the [shared] watercourses” (Art. 5., 7., 8.). In
that spirit the Convention dedicates an entire part to the protection and preservation
of water quality and the aquatic environment. It stipulates the prevention, reduction
and control of pollution of international watercourses as one of the core obligations
10 The Resilience of Transboundary Water Governance …
Institutionalisation of cross-border water quality management has several stages.
In her comprehensive survey of water treaties Meredith Giordano clusters quality
control mechanisms into three categories:
– an indefinite commitment by riparian states to some aspects of water quality management,
– arrangements that define water quality-related actions but lack specific standards
or a comprehensive management framework,
– arrangements with detailed water quality standards, actions plans and/or comprehensive management frameworks (Giordano 2003).
Importantly, water quality management is not limited to pollution prevention
and control. More advanced regimes also address broader environmental and social
aspects, going far beyond the actual chemical status of the transboundary water body
concerned. In fact, such comprehensive ecological requirements as the consideration of ecosystem services have become regular treaty features in the past decade,
displaying an almost exponential growth in recent water treaties (Giordano et al.
2014). The spectacular expansion of water quality management considerations in
water treaties is no doubt a token of the growing importance of pollution control and
riverine ecology in the stability of hydropolitical relations.
10.2.2 Water Quality Protection in International Water Law
Although water quality and the environment have risen to dominance in transboundary water agreements only relatively lately, water pollution considerations have
indeed shaped the evolution of the basic principles of contemporary water law significantly right from the outset (Giordano 2003). Yet, qualitative requirements in water
treaties started to expand drastically only since the 1950s. Ever since the number
of agreements addressing water quality issues has multiplied almost tenfold. Even
more spectacular is the recent emergence of broader environmental considerations
into the forefront of transboundary treaty-making: since 1990 three quarters of all
new international agreements contained some reference to the protection of the environment. A recent survey on the key features of water treaties by Mark Giordano
et al. found over 160 existing water agreements that include some language on water
quality management and/or environmental services (Giordano et al. 2014).
The general requirements of international law regarding water quality protection
in a transboundary context are accurately summarised by the 1997 UN Watercourses
Convention. The Convention deals with water quality and environmental questions
extensively. In the first place, the overarching principles of equitable and reasonable
utilisation, the no-harm rule as well as the general cooperation obligation explicitly
call for the “adequate protection of the [shared] watercourses” (Art. 5., 7., 8.). In
that spirit the Convention dedicates an entire part to the protection and preservation
of water quality and the aquatic environment. It stipulates the prevention, reduction
and control of pollution of international watercourses as one of the core obligations