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Super Corridors
Transboundary Water
A transboundary waterway is defined as all territory which contributes to a stream, at least one of the tributaries of which crosses a boundary. Almost half the Earth's land surface, excluding Antarctica, and 60 percent of the world's fresh water, falls within these basins. What this means in human terms is that most of the world's water is shared water; consequently, because all waters in these basins are connected, political arrangements are necessary for the nations which share them (i.e., coriparian nations) in order to manage them efficiently.../more - Water Encyclopedia
The complex physical, political, and human interactions within international river basins can make the management of these shared water systems especially difficult. Issues of increasing water scarcity, degrading water quality, rapid population growth, unilateral water development, and uneven levels of economic development are commonly cited as potentially disruptive factors in co-riparian water relations. The combination of these factors has led academics and policy-makers alike to warn of impending conflict over shared water resources.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has documented more than 3600 international water treaties dating from ad 805 to 1984. Although the vast majority of these agreements concern navigational issues, a growing number address water as a limited and consumable resource apart from navigation, boundary delineation, or fisheries related matters. Included in this latter category are more than 400 water agreements signed since 1820.../more - Oregon State University
With demand increasing, supply shrinking because of overuse and climate change, and almost all world water resources fully allocated, conflicts abound. Transboundary water, some of which remains unallocated, is very much under dispute.
The sources of conflict tend to arise from a) up-stream/down-stream use or b) intersectoral use (conflict between urban use, rural/agricultural use, and environmental use). In terms of resolving these conflicts, Canada and the United States have been relatively successful in negotiating transboundary water where others have been less successful, partly because of the effectiveness of the International Joint Commission (IJC).
The IJC (1908) governs use of transboundary water disputes by (a) regulating the construction/operation of dams or protective works and/or any activity that involves water use, and (b) making suggestions, conducting investigations, and resolving disputes over water usage. Of the 56 disputes submitted to the IJC since its inception, 55 have been resolved unanimously. According to Dr. Vaux, (University of California at Berkley) this success is due to (a) the independence of the IJC members, (b) public engagement, (c) transparency of process, (d) commitment to consensus, and (e) joint fact finding.
However, a number of problems remain: (a) IJC requires federal referral (ie. provinces or municipalities cannot bring forward disputes). (b) Federal governments are attempting to resolve the issues politically instead of referring them to the IJC. (c) The issues facing Canada and the United States have not yet become dire; as water scarcity becomes more prevalent, additional conflicts will arise.../more - Institute for United States Policy Research
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The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909
Transboundary water conflicts between the U.S. and Canada can occur all along the 8,000-kilometer border. Rules concerning transboundary waters were created almost one hundred years ago with the signing of the Boundary Waters Treaty (BWT) of 1909. This treaty created the International Joint Commission (IJC)
Past water issues between Canada and the U.S. have set precedents for resolving future disagreements.Current issues are “firmly rooted in historical precedents,” Even issues that result in a signed agreement on how to manage the resource, such as the Columbia River Treaty, have an expiration date and must be renegotiated. Both the Columbia River Treaty and the IJC’s role in the Great Lakes highlight the successes of the IJC and the cooperation between the two countries.
University of New Mexico
International Boundary and Water Commission (U.S.-Mexico)
The U.S. and Mexico share an international border of 3,110 kilometers with river boundaries making up around 66% of the border (Figure 3). The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo borders the U.S. state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas for 2,020 kilometers. The Colorado River separates Arizona, U.S., and Sonora, Mexico for 27 kilometers of the international border. The international border between both countries was first established by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, just prior to the end of the Mexican War.
Water use for irrigation was important to both countries and controversies surfaced in the late 1800s and early 1900s about the equitable distribution of water. The Convention of May 21, 1906 was the first treaty regarding water quantity and stated that the U.S. must deliver 74 million cubic meters (MCM) per year to Mexico via the Rio Grande (IBWC 1906). The 1944 Treaty was more comprehensive and laid out specific actions that each country must take to reduce water sharing conflicts (IBWC 1944).University of New Mexico
A History of Dispute Avoidance and Peaceful Resolution
The United States and Canada’s ability to cooperate and peacefully resolve differences has been unique. Internationally, the partnership between the two countries is admired: “It has neither precedent nor equal in the international system today.”
So strong has been the cooperation that the relationship is often described in romantic terms:
In a world in which it sometimes seems that each country is at odds with every other, the Canada-U.S. relationship has sometimes looked like an island of tranquility in a sea of conflict...the idea that Canada and the U.S. had somehow developed a magic formula for achieving a happy international marriage....
Traditionally then, a strong preference has existed for the two neighbors to resolve their differences through diplomacy rather than through for-mal legal action.
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Click on Images
North-American River Basins
Runoff
Discharge
Dam Density
Irrigation
Climate
Land Cover
Source:Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database
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Cooperation has been, in many ways, essential because Canada and the United States are strikingly interdependent. U.S.-Canada trade in services, cross-border investments, and tourism surpasses $42 billion yearly. In fact, the trading relationship represents the largest flow of income, goods, and services in the history of the world: a staggering $1.2 billion U.S. dollars daily. The United States exports more to Canbined.
But the interdependence is not limited to trade. More than 200 million border crossings each year occur between the two countries, and ninety percent of all Canadians live within a hundred miles of the U.S. border. The countries also share numerous environmental chal-lenges. These challenges include maintaining air and water quality, and the management of other shared resources, such as migratory birds and wildlife.
../more - Litigating Canada-U.S. Transboundary Harm
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Like it or not.
is pretty much the picture.
Drought, floods,
extreme weather
and less and less water,
as the top of the world melts.
Man-made or not,
we clearly have a problem.
Just ask the folks
in New Orleans,
Bolinas,
Clear Rapids,
Lubbock,
Pangnirtung,
Snohomish County,
Chilliwack or Danville
They're busy
dealing with it.
And the problem is global
Check this map out
So we can BICKER
PeterBagge
say we didn't see it coming
or deal with it.
are the old plans
hatched in oil for the economy of greed,
before the world moved on...
But as any Risk player can see,
we do need a continental plan.
Maybe the corridors work in a green economy?
If, in our quest for oil,
we can drill 29,404 feet deep in the ocean,
build pipelines across Alaska in the blink of an eye,
surely we can put our minds together,
harness the water up North,
channel it south,
and make sure more of us survive longer.
Or will we not see it coming,
while we watch Survivor on TV.
Learn more...
International gauging stations
Environment Canada
Transboundary Waters
Water Encyclopedia
Commission for
Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC)
Watershed profiles: North America
World Resources InstituteLaval University
Water - How we Share it
Environment Canada
4 Treaties, North America
Oregon State University
International River Basin Organizations Data, North America
Oregon State University
Trans-Boundary Environmental Governance in Canada and the United States
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Boundary Waters Treaty Centennial Symposium
Great Lakes Law
Criteria for equitable allocations
Oregon State U
“Canada / US Transboundary Water Issues
looking through western Canada”
Herb Gray,
Canadian Chair, IJC
Monitoring, Modeling, and Forecasting Change Within the Arizona-Sonora Transboundary Watersheds
USGS
WATER DIVERSION, EXPORT AND CANADA-US RELATIONS:
A BRIEF HISTORY
Frank Quinn, Munk Centre for International Studies
Rivers
National Resources Canada
Mississippi River Basin
Water Encyclopedia
Columbia River basin
Water Encyclopedia
Colorado River basin
Water Encyclopedia
Great Lakes
Water Encyclopedia
Yukon River Basin
USGS
Saskatchewan River Basin
Eco Net, SK
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