hydropolitics of the tigris - euphrates river basin with - ceris.be

large enough to provide an alternative water supply but rather to mitigate Israel’s dependency on regional
sources. 74 Earlier this year (2004) Israel has decided to do just that and has agreed to purchase up to 50
million cubic metres a year for 20 years from Turkey’s freshwater facility on the Manavgat River. Initial
announcements of the agreement link the sale of water to a purchase of armaments from Israel by Turkey. 75
Negotiations started in 2002 with the Manavgat Water Agreement signed on 04 of March, 2004. Some
Israeli critics of the deal complained that the cost of transferred water was more expensive than desalinated
water, but Israeli policy seems to be that “overall relations with Turkey are more important than 50 million
cubic meters” of water. 76
Hydropolitical Conflict Resolution: Alternatives
Ecological Approach to Management
McQuarrie suggests the UN/ILC Law is a modest beginning but ultimately “fails as a practical tool for water
allocation.” What is required (and what has been missing from the Tigris-Euphrates riparian debate) is more
emphasis on environmentally sustainable solutions. 77 This is echoed by Shiva, who believes that these
monolithic international agreements do not provide justice due to the individual nature of river basins, in
which the principle of equitable utilization becomes vague. 78 Kolars states that in order to present a way out
of the present impasse, three main elements are required: facts, interpretations of such facts and the
subsequent acts, emphasising the need for reliable data acquisition. Furthermore, a threshold needs to be
established beyond which politics cannot be permitted to destroy the water resources. For example, Kolars
notes that the claims of sovereignty, right of prior usage and the right of equity are all recognized by the
international community (politically) but if “taken into combination, the water demanded by the three
riparians would exceed the actual flow of the Euphrates in the year 2040 by at least 2.0bcm/yr.” 79 He also
points out that, due to simple geographical differences between Turkey’s mountainous terrain and Syria’s
flatter topography and the obvious difference in numbers of storage reservoir sites, it is simply not realistic
physically to justify insisting on, for example, equal storage rights. Shiva adds that it is a management
mistake to assume that water conserved (or not used) is water wasted (Turkey’s view is that waters flowing
into the Mediterranean are ‘lost’). These ‘unused’ waters are essential to sustaining habitats not only along
the length of the river to the mouth. They also maintain recharge to the groundwater reserves of the region
and the global water quality. 80 Furthermore, the river needs to be managed as a whole entity, requiring
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