ABSTRACT
Water is a transboundary resource. A large volume of fresh water, over 90 per cent, crosses international borders, making water an unruly resource. In spite of the 1966 Helsinki Rules and the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, which has yet to be ratified, there exists no legally binding international watercourse treaty. Existing treaties and agreements are a result of bilateral and multilateral understandings and hinge on the cooperative value of water sharing. Projections of a looming water shortage in many regions of the world, including South Asia, raise critical questions about availability, accessibility and distribution as well as equitability and legal acceptability of existing agreements. In regions with growing water shortage, states will have to grapple constantly with the rising demand for water and its sustainable uses. It is now a common national security refrain in India that a stable supply of water is critical to the country's political, social and economic stability.
