Legal regime of transboundary aquifers in international law

The tendency towards use of aquifers grows increasingly owing to pullution and overexploitation of surface waters. Despite this rising demand, the absence of an international agreement specifically designed on transboundary aquifers has led to emergence of diverse legal regimes, thus paving way for interstate disputes or exacerbation of the existing ones. This study follows the traces of emerging legal rules on transboundary aquifers in international law, and thus identifies the main principles on which the law of transboundary aquifers is to be built. To this end, in this study, a number of international treaties and preparatory work addressing groundwaters, albeit partially, have been analysed and some agreements concluded specifically for a certain transboundary aquifer have been further examined. By using the deductive method, the subject has been dealt with systematically and the problem, conflict and still very limited state practices regarding transboundary aquifers have been revealed with the concrete case study. The attained results can be cited as follows. It is requisite to understand and classify aquifers in an accurate manner in terms of geology and hydrogeology so as to explicitly designate the principles, obligations and responsibilities which states shall observe and abide by. It is critically vital, for success of this process, to construct an agreement terminologically on the concept of 'transboundary aquifer' rather than such concepts as 'international' or 'shared'. It would be much more correct and reasonable to regulate and govern aquifers pursuant to a different legal regime wholly adaptable to its unique characteristics and specific conditions rather than in a comparison with surface waters. For a prospective treaty to be widely accepted, it must be free from vague and ambiguous concepts and expressions, and furthermore must constitute a framework inclusive of dispute determination and resolution mechanisms that will bring states onto common terms. Last but not least, in addition to a universal framework treaty, specific agreements and arrangements should be concluded among concerned states for each and every transboundary aquifer in observance of peculiar status, conditions and problems of aquifers.