Equity Across Generations in Implementing International Law on Water

Abstract

Water law regulates the use of freshwater resources, such as rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, and glaciers. A considerable challenge is to ensure that these resources remain in good health, so that future generations can make use of them as well. The most urgent problems facing efforts to ensure the sustainable utilization of these freshwater resources include water pollution, depletion of non-rechargeable underground water and fossil water, and diversion of freshwater resources in a way that negatively affects the ecosystem of which such resources often constitute the beating heart.