Groundwater Law and Administration in Developing Countries

Several groundwater experts have recently observed that groundwater in developing countries is by and large being left unmanaged (e.g. Katar Singh 1995; Van Steenbergen 1997). They have repeatedly deplored the absence of effective regulatory mechanisms. Nevertheless, a consensus now seems to be growing that groundwater is too valuable to be left unmanaged ; law and administration are needed to preserve the quantity and quality of groundwater. Moreover, the feeling is that the inequity resulting from existing legal doctrine calls for better law (Moench 1995: p.1; Prasad and Sarkar 1994: p.153). There are various suggestions as to what kind of law and what kind of management system should be entrusted with these new tasks.