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260 the best routes, the best allocation of water, and the many complicated environmental and economic
uncertainties posed by such projects.
VI. Politics and International Law
1.
International water law and institutions have important roles to play despite the fact that no
265 satisfactory water law has been developed that is acceptable to all nations. Developing such agreements is
difficult because of the many intricacies of international politics, national practices, and other complicating
political and social factors. For nations sharing river basins, factors affecting the successful negotiation and
270 implementation or international agreements include wheter a nation is upstream, downstream, or sharing a
river as a border; the relative military and economic strength of the nation; and the availability of other
sources of water supply.
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2. In the last few decades, however, international organizations have attempted to derive more general
principles and new concepts governing shared freshwater resources. The International Law Association's
Helsinki Rules of 1966 (since modified) and the work of the international Law Commission of the United
280 Nations are among the most important examples. In 1991, the International Law Commission completed
the drafting and provisional adoption of 32 articles on the law of the Non-Navigational Uses of
International Watercourses. Among the general principles set forth are those of equitable utilization, the
285 obligation not to cause harm to otherriparian nations, and the obligation to exchange hydrologic and other
relevant data and information on a regular basis. Questions remain, however, about the principles' relative
importance and means of enforcement. In particular, defining equitable utilization of a shared water supply
290 remains one of the most important and difficult problems facing many nations.
3. Until now, individual water treaties covering river basins have been more effective, albeit on a far
more limited regional basis, than the broader principles described by the International Law Commission.
295 International treaties concerning shared freshwater resources extend back centuries, and there are hundreds
of international river treaties covering everything from navigation to water quality to water rights
allocations. For example, freedom of navigation was granted to a monastery in Europe in the year 805, and
300 a bilateral treaty on the Weser River, which today flows through Germany into the North Sea, was signed
in 1221. Such treaties have helped reduce the risk of water conflicts in many areas, but some of them are
beginning to fail as changing levels of development alter the water needs of regions and nations. The 1959
305 treaty on the Nile River and some limited bilateral agreements on the Euphrates between Iraq and Syria and
between Iraq and Turkey, for example, are now under pressure because of changes in the political and
resource situations in the regions.
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4.To make both regional treaties and broader international agreements over water more flexible, detailed
mechanisms for conflict resolution and negotiations must be developed, basic hydrologic data must be
acquired and shared with all parties, flexible rather than fixed water allocations are needed, and strategies
315 for sharing shortages and apportioning responsibilities for floods must be developed before shortages
become an important factor. For example, both the 1944 Colorado River treaty between the United States
and Mexico and the 1959 treaty on the Nile River between Egypt and Sudan allocate fixed quantities of
320 water, which are based on assumptions about the total average flows of each river. However, mistaken esti-
mates of average flows or future climate changes that could alter flows prove this type of allocation to be
too rigid and prone to disputes. Proportional sharing agreements, if they include agreements for openly
325 sharing all hydrologic data, can help to reduce the risk of conflicts over water, and modifications to these
treaties should be undertaken by their signatories now, before such flow changes become evident.
5.Existing institutions appear sufficient to design and implement the kinds of conflict resolution
330 mechanisms designed above, but some major improvements in them are needed. The United Nations has
played an important role, through the International Law Commission, in developing guidelines and
principles for internationally shared watercourses, but it should continue to press for the adoption and
335 application of the principles in water-tense regions, such as the Jordan and Euphrates river basins.
Similarly, bilateral or multilateral river treaties have been effective in the past, but they should consistently
include all affected parties; establish joint management committees empowered to negotiate disputes; and
340 be flexible enough to adapt to long-term changes in hydrologic conditions, such as those that may result
from global climate change. Finally, disputes over shared groundwater resources are particularly important
in the Middle East. However, international groundwater law and principles are poorly developed. Some
345 recent progress has been made, but more attention should be given to this matter in the context of the