Equity across Generations in International and Domestic Water Law

Abstract

This article looks at ways in which the principle of intergenerational equity is applied in existing international and domestic water law. The international and domestic regulations and policies referred to in this article have been selected because they contain interesting ideas on how to give meaning to intergenerational equity in the framework of water law. They are to be considered best practices, and thus do not necessarily paint a representative picture of the current state of water law. Most water laws pay much less attention to intergenerational equity than the examples referred to in this paper. After a brief introduction to the principle of intergenerational equity in international (environmental) law, this paper zooms in on the role of the same principle in the general framework of international water law. It explores some examples of agreements regulating the shared use of a particular watercourse, and looks to examples of the principle’s application in domestic water law. Finally, the paper examines domestic policies which aim to apply the intergenerational equity principle to water law and offers a few general concluding remarks.