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Community benefits achieved through

developing legal frameworks at domestic

and transboundary levels

Stefano Burchi, Chairman, Executive Council, International Association for Water Law

ater resources are found above and below the land

surface. Thus, water is almost instinctively associ-

ated with land ownership. Groundwater in particular

has long been associated with private property, with landown-

ers claiming the freedom to pump as much water as they please

under the legal ‘rule of capture’, regardless of the effects on

resource stocks and on their neighbours.

Although the rule of capture can be said to invite indiscriminate

water pumping, it is possible to limit its destructive potential. For

example, although the rule of capture prevails in the state of Texas,

United States, state water legislation also provides for the creation

of groundwater conservation districts with a mandate to protect

groundwater from indiscriminate pumping. This legislation enables

districts to set spacing requirements for wells, production limitations

and production fees. Many districts above the giant Ogallala aquifer

have adopted spacing requirements, while Houston and San Antonio

have set limits on the amount of groundwater that can be extracted

from each well. The Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District

has opted for a fee schedule aimed at discouraging groundwater

pumping. And in Northern Texas, the High Plains Underground

Water Conservation District has implemented a successful overdraft

management approach based on education and the promotion of

conservation technologies.

In each case, water laws enabling and

empowering groundwater conservation districts are enabling local

communities to benefit from sustainable groundwater withdrawals

from relevant aquifers.

India has also experienced serious groundwater over-extraction

problems, precipitated and made increasingly worse by the same

legal rule of capture that prevails in Texas. In response to the threat

posed by indiscriminate groundwater pumping, the state of Punjab

passed legislation in 2009 restricting the timing of paddy nursery

sowing and paddy transplanting by farmers. All farmers, whether

they are owners, tenants or share croppers engaging in agriculture,

horticulture, agroforestry or similar economic activities, face severe

fines if they breach the restrictions. This simple and straightforward

measure has had an impact, with farmers responding well to the

new regulations.

A different basic water law prevails in Spain, where groundwa-

ter is public property. Nonetheless, it is reckoned that there is a

lot of illegal water pumping in the country. Like Texas, Spain has

responded to the problem with legislation that provides for the

formation of groundwater user associations which are empowered to

monitor and police pumping restrictions. For example, in 1997 the

groundwater users’ association of the Mancha Oriental

aquifer and the local basin authority agreed not to allow

any new water users until all existing users held proper

groundwater extraction rights. Since then, the associa-

tion has been proactive in monitoring and reporting all

illegal groundwater use.

The success of the Mancha

Oriental groundwater users’ association in ensuring

sustainable water withdrawals from the aquifer can be

attributed to the legislation that enables this type of

association to exist and to function, and provides them

with the power needed to accomplish their goals.

Many laws on water resources provide mechanisms

and opportunities for the public and for local communi-

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Water legislation can help to limit the destructive potential of

indiscriminate groundwater pumping

Image: Int. Assoc. for Water Law