| Abstract: | International trade in water has been pioneered by coastal or island city-states, by areas subject to boundary revision after a water supply system had been established, by informal accommodations among good neighbors, and by co-riparians agreeing to negotiate on compensation as an element in water allocation. Specific examples are described. Formulations of criteria for an equitable agreement for possible transfers of Canadian water to the United States have been published by Laycock and by Kuiper. Many other Canadians have expressed serious concern over the long-range implications of water export and have frequently proposed restrictions which they believe that Canada should insist upon in any negotiations. Explicitly or implicitly in nearly all Canadian discussion of water export is the conviction that international transfer, should it be permitted at all, should occur at some mutually satisfactory point or points on the border with all questions or sources and routes within Canada being left to the agencies within Canada selected by the Canadians for the task. |
