National and International Legal Aspects of River Water Sharing: The South Asian Experience

Abstract

Conflicts over shared rivers between various stakeholders usually arise because of the depletion of water flows due to diverse factors and circumstances broadly classified as (a) geographic, hydrographic, hydrological, climatic, ecological and other factors of natural character; (b) the socio-economic needs of the population; (c) the quantum of population dependent upon the river; (d) the effects of the use or uses of the river by one stakeholder on another; (e) existing and potential uses of the river; (f) conservation, protection, development and economy of use of the river waters and the costs of measures taken to that effect; and (g) availability of alternatives, of comparable value, to a planned or existing use of the river.