27
water systems by agriculture and industry but also about growing population – shortly
speaking: concerns about the sustainability of water systems and about possible damage or breakdown of ecosystems as consequences of water problems (Lehn and
Parodi 2009 ).
Increasing pressure on water systems leads to competing claims for water usage
and to corresponding confl icts. Insofar as these water confl icts refer to moral confl icts or normative uncertainties, ethical reasoning might help in better understanding and contribute to solving the confl ict. Human values are present in these
confl icts nonetheless, in the form of cultural or religious values based on traditions, or in the form of economic values in the Western approach of regarding
water as a resource.
Human values are also present in water technologies or other intervention measures into water systems because technology is not value-free but inherently normative as can be learned by philosophy of technology (Grunwald 2013 ). The complex
interplay between our normative views on water, water usage and water confl icts on
the one hand, and normative aspects of water technology, on the other, need to be
uncovered transparently in order to allow for an open and enlightened debate on our
responsibility in this fi eld.
Water confl icts arise in a different respect: as confl icts between today’s generation and future generations, between users of water facing scarcity, in particular
between upstream and downstream populations, between different types of usage
(irrigation, industrial use, household use, etc.) and so forth. Ethics cannot identify
“best solutions” in these confl icts and then force the confl ict partners to accept.
Ethics only can help to better understand the normative structure of water confl icts
and support deliberation about responsible solutions. Ethics may contribute to a
bottom-up process of confl ict solving by conducting an ethical discourse with all
groups involved – and which advocates for those who cannot participate directly
such as future generations or ecosystems.
Ethically legitimate principles cover the most relevant concerns on water issues
and transform them into guidance for such interventions into water systems, which
are compatible to the imperative of sustainable development or even support this
imperative. However, there is no direct way from these (or other) principles to specifi c recommendations in the case of a challenge at hand. Often, the principles must
be weighed, balanced and prioritised – a complex challenge, which can be met only
by carefully considering the individual case under consideration. Responsible solutions can be identifi ed only in a genuine process of ethical deliberation involving
persons, groups, representatives of moral positions and advocates of non-human
(such as eco-systems) of future generations. The ethical discourse as a process of
real deliberation and following legitimate rules is the place where ethical theory,
water systems analysis, environmental sciences and engineering inter-disciplinarily
meet with context-specifi c requirements and trans-disciplinarily with specifi c actors
of the fi eld.
The research project out of which this volume emerged focused on two specifi c
water systems and the involved water confl icts: the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan and
the Lower Jordan Valley with Israel, Jordan and Palestine as involved regions. The
2 Water Ethics – Orientation for Water Confl icts as Part of Inter-…
water systems by agriculture and industry but also about growing population – shortly
speaking: concerns about the sustainability of water systems and about possible damage or breakdown of ecosystems as consequences of water problems (Lehn and
Parodi 2009 ).
Increasing pressure on water systems leads to competing claims for water usage
and to corresponding confl icts. Insofar as these water confl icts refer to moral confl icts or normative uncertainties, ethical reasoning might help in better understanding and contribute to solving the confl ict. Human values are present in these
confl icts nonetheless, in the form of cultural or religious values based on traditions, or in the form of economic values in the Western approach of regarding
water as a resource.
Human values are also present in water technologies or other intervention measures into water systems because technology is not value-free but inherently normative as can be learned by philosophy of technology (Grunwald 2013 ). The complex
interplay between our normative views on water, water usage and water confl icts on
the one hand, and normative aspects of water technology, on the other, need to be
uncovered transparently in order to allow for an open and enlightened debate on our
responsibility in this fi eld.
Water confl icts arise in a different respect: as confl icts between today’s generation and future generations, between users of water facing scarcity, in particular
between upstream and downstream populations, between different types of usage
(irrigation, industrial use, household use, etc.) and so forth. Ethics cannot identify
“best solutions” in these confl icts and then force the confl ict partners to accept.
Ethics only can help to better understand the normative structure of water confl icts
and support deliberation about responsible solutions. Ethics may contribute to a
bottom-up process of confl ict solving by conducting an ethical discourse with all
groups involved – and which advocates for those who cannot participate directly
such as future generations or ecosystems.
Ethically legitimate principles cover the most relevant concerns on water issues
and transform them into guidance for such interventions into water systems, which
are compatible to the imperative of sustainable development or even support this
imperative. However, there is no direct way from these (or other) principles to specifi c recommendations in the case of a challenge at hand. Often, the principles must
be weighed, balanced and prioritised – a complex challenge, which can be met only
by carefully considering the individual case under consideration. Responsible solutions can be identifi ed only in a genuine process of ethical deliberation involving
persons, groups, representatives of moral positions and advocates of non-human
(such as eco-systems) of future generations. The ethical discourse as a process of
real deliberation and following legitimate rules is the place where ethical theory,
water systems analysis, environmental sciences and engineering inter-disciplinarily
meet with context-specifi c requirements and trans-disciplinarily with specifi c actors
of the fi eld.
The research project out of which this volume emerged focused on two specifi c
water systems and the involved water confl icts: the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan and
the Lower Jordan Valley with Israel, Jordan and Palestine as involved regions. The
2 Water Ethics – Orientation for Water Confl icts as Part of Inter-…