Water Resources and the Public Interest

MARTIN, LIBER ALEXIS; SQUILLACE, MARK

Cancun

Congreso; XVIth World Water Congress; 2017

IWRA / ANEAS

Countries around the world are near perfect agreement about the wisdom of treating their water resources as public property. Not surprisingly this has led most countries to articulate a goal of managing these resources in the public interest. But the meaning of the phrase ?public interest,? especially in the context of water resources management, is far from clear. This paper seeks to bring some clarity to the issue by exploring three theoretical approaches that might be used for defining the public interest in water resources before settling on an approach that gives preference to the communal values associated with water. It then suggests how the civic republican ideal might be employed through a public process to further flesh out the meaning of public interest. The article concludes by acknowledging the need to assess how well various water management regimes comport with the suggested framework, and offering recommendations for reforming water management regimes in way that best reflects the public interest.