| Legislative
assistance in the freshwater domain is also provided in
connection with the review of national water policies and with investment-oriented
water-sector review exercises initiated by the World Bank (e.g.,
Pakistan).
FAO's legislative assistance tends to promote
the integrated management of water resources and a balanced distribution
of labour between the public and the private sectors. As a result,
all water resources, whether surface or underground, are brought
within the fold of one piece of legislation, and provision is
made for planning, for orderly access to such resources by users
in agriculture, industry, commerce, urban and rural households,
and recreation and the environment; for the protection of water
resources from depletion and from point- and non-point-source
pollution; and for the institutional arrangements necessary for
the administration of the legislation.
Issues of equity in access to water are addressed by affirming
the role of the state and government as guardians and, if appropriate,
owners of the country's waters, and dispensers of user rights
to individuals. In response to mounting concerns with the efficiency
of water allocation and use, legislative assistance may provide
for trading of water user rights. This entails removing legal
impediments, such as the attachment of water to the land where
it occurs or flows; and ensuring the security and dependability
of rights through the recording of relevant instruments and their
enforceability as against other claimants. In the process, an
appropriate balance is sought between the legal tradition of water
as a public good and its new role as a tradeable commodity.
The growing role of the private sector in the provision of water
services relating, in particular, to irrigation is reflected in
legislative assistance directed at enabling water users' groups
to be formed with legal personality and with authority to levy
and collect charges from their membership to cover the costs of
operating and maintaining the irrigation infrastructure. Also,
appropriate instruments must be in place to empower private-sector
agents, including water users' groups, to take over from Government
the responsibility for operating and maintaining Government-built
and -operated irrigation schemes. Authority to charge for services
rendered is critical in promoting private involvement in a sector
which has traditionally been the province of the public sector.
Assistance in the
implementation of water management legislation focusses
on the design and operationalization of permit systems for the abstraction
and use of water, and for the disposal of waste in it. The sustainability
through time of a system's design is critical to the effectiveness
of the assistance provided. This goal is pursued through upgrading
the skills available locally and by pilot-testing systems in limited
areas for a gradual application to the entire country.
Assistance provided in relation to rivers
and lakes shared by two or more countries may centre on
the identification and review of options for the legal configuration
of permanent institutional arrangements for cooperation in managing
the shared water resources (e.g. Lake Malawi/Nyasa, the North Western
Sahara Aquifer System (better known as Système Aquifère
du Sahara Septentrional - SASS). Assistance may include training
in domestic and international legal aspects of managing a shared
water resources, with a view to creating a multi-country pool of
government officials prepared to deal with complex issues with a
common understanding of the relevant legal ramifications and of
approaches to unravelling them (e.g. the Nile basin).
The FAO Development Law Service and Land and Water
Development Division have conducted a worldwide inventory on the legal
and regulatory framework supporting Water Users Associations.
Available country profiles can be downloaded from the IMT
(Irrigation Management Transfer) website.
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