What is Transboundary Water Management?

Governance

An aerial photograph of the Niagara Falls in the fall
Niagara Falls. Photo by Venti Views on Unsplash

Water is a precious resource which crosses boundaries as it flows between many different nations and regions throughout the world. For this reason, nations pursue transboundary water management to address conflicting water interests.   For example, industrial pollution, infrastructure projects with downstream impacts, and extreme flood or drought events encourage nations to communicate with one another to share information and manage water quality and quantity expectations.   This communication ensures integrated water management that promotes healthy watersheds and can reduce tensions between jurisdictions.

Transboundary water agreements are the result of negotiations between different nations or sub-national groups to determine how water resources can be shared. Reaching common ground, however, can be challenging due to the existence of multiple regulatory frameworks and different expectations between negotiators.

According to United Nations standards, typical transboundary management requires cooperation between nations, an adequate legal and institutional framework, as well as joint approaches to planning and sharing both the costs and benefits of water management.

International Water Treaties

There are many international water-sharing agreements around the world.  Between Canada and the United States of America (U.S.), the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty was signed to manage the shared waters along the countries’ shared borders. Administration of the Treaty is conducted by the International Joint Commission (IJC) which was established when the Treaty was signed and consists of equal numbers of Commissioners appointed by each nation and supporting staff.   As an joint organization, the IJC works to prevent and mediate disputes between the two countries by providing objective advice and support to governments on emerging issues such as water or air quality. For example, the Great Lakes are shared between eastern Canada and the U.S., and present great environmental, social, and economic value to the large populations that surround these lakes. Water quality and quantity of these lakes are monitored by the IJC. Similarly, other water bodies, such as the Columbia River that originates in British Columbia (B.C.) and enters the U.S. State of Washington, are also monitored by the IJC.

Sub-national Water Agreements

Transboundary water agreements are an important cooperative measure for nations to manage water quality and quantity expectations.

Agreements also apply at the sub-national level between jurisdictions within a country.   In Canada, for example, inter-provincial/territorial agreements regulate flow requirements and water quality objectives between provinces and territories.   In both international and sub-national cases, transboundary water agreements lay the groundwork for jurisdictions that share water flows to negotiate and agree on a set of rules to further manage water.

Examples of Canadian inter-provincial/territorial agreements:

  • 1969 Master Agreement on Apportionment (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Canada) administered by the Prairie Provinces Water Board.
  •  1997 Transboundary Waters Master Agreement (Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Canada) administered by the Mackenzie River Basin Board.

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