Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's water: a look at the journey both Texas and the Middle East must embark upon to solve the kinks in their water regulation.

(109.) Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), supra note 108. The "GAP Region" basically includes nine provinces in the Euphrates-Tigris basins and Upper Mesopotamia plains. Id.

(110.) Id.; see also Ayseygul Kibaroglu, Sustainable Development of Irrigation Systems in the Southeaster Anatolia Project (GAP) Region, http://www.gap. metu.edu.tr/html/yayinlar/sustainabledevforgapAKibaroglu.pdf (last visited Feb. 4, 2007).

(111.) See Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), supra note 108 ("The water resources component of the GAP Master Plan envisages to construct 22 dams, 19 power plants, and numerous networks of irrigation canals to deliver water to over nearly 1.7 million hectares of land.").

(112.) See KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT ET AL., DOWNSTREAM IMPACTS OF TURKISH DAM CONSTRUCTIONS ON SYRIA AND IRAQ (2002), http://www.thecorner house.org.ukpdd/document/IraqSyri.pdf.

(113.) See Berman & Whibey, supra note 85 ("The Jordan River Basin has also emerged as a flashpoint for conflict over water. Resources in the area, suffering serious overuse as a result of pollution and population growth, have increasingly impacted interstate relations.").

(114.) Abigail Ofori-Amoah, Water Wars and International Conflict (Spring 2004), http://academic. evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/oforiaa/.

(115.) Id.

(116.) Aaron T. Wolf, 2020 Vision Brief 31: Middle East Conflicts and Directions for Conflict Resolution (Apr. 1996), http://www.ifpri.org120201briefs/number31.htm.

(117.) See Ofori-Amoah, supra note 114.

(118.) Water and Conflict, supra note 80.

(119.) Treaty of Peace Between The State of Israel and The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Isr.-Jordan, art. 6, Oct. 26, 1994, KA 1060, 7-8, available at http://www.jewish virtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/isrjor.html.

(120.) See Middle East Drought "Forces Israel to Break Treaty," BBC NEWS, Mar. 15, 1999, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/296797.stm.

(121.) Id.

(122.) See Berman & Whibey, supra note 85.

(123.) Id.

(124.) MARTIN SHERMAN, THE POLITICS OF WATER IN THE MIDDLE EAST 16, 51-53 (1999).

(125.) Id. at 7.

(126.) See Ofori-Amoah, supra note 114.

(127.) Id.

(128.) Berman & Whibey, supra note 85.

(129.) Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook: Saudi Arabia, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/ factbook/print/sa.html (last visited Feb. 4, 2007).

(130.) See Berman & Whibey, supra note 85.

(131.) See Water and Conflict, supra note 80 ("Although it was global concerns about oil supplies that helped internationalize the 1991 Gulf War, water resources were not spared in the conflict.").

(132.)See Berman & Whibey, supra note 85.

(133.)See Ofori-Amoah, supra note 114.

(134.)See Water and Conflict, supra note 80 ("Using every tactic at his limited disposal, Saddam Hussein ordered his troops to dismantle the desalination plants of Kuwait, and the oil spills that fouled the Persian Gulf also damaged desalination sites in Saudi Arabia--demonstrating both the importance and the vulnerability of these facilities.").

(135.) Allan R. Hoffman, The Connection: Water and Energy Security, ENERGY SECURITY, Aug. 13, 2004, http://www.iags.org/n0813043.htm.

(136.) Id. ("Water security can be defined as the ability to access sufficient quantities of clean water to maintain adequate standards of food and goods production, sanitation and health.").

(137.) See Topkaya, supra note 79 ("States have historically exercised absolute sovereignty over the use of rivers and other natural resources located within the State's territory, no matter what the effects of the resource use on neighboring States.").

(138.) Id.

(139.) David J. Lazerwitz, Comment, The Flow of International Water Law: The International Law Commission's Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, 1 IND. J. GLOBAL LEGAL STUD. 247, 250 (1993-1994).

(140.) Id.

(141.) See Topkaya, supra note 79 ("A distinct but similarly restrictive theory of water allocation is the principle of prior appropriation, which favors neither the upstream nor the downstream State, but rather the State that puts the water to use first, thereby protecting those uses which existed prior in time.").

(142.) See Lazerwitz, supra note 139, at 250.

(143.) See Topkaya, supra note 79 ("This theory, known as 'absolute territorial integrity,' posits that a riparian State may not develop a portion of a shared rivercourse if it will cause harm to another riparian State.").

(144.) Id.

(145.) Id. ("It is viewed as inequitably placing a burden on upper riparians without exacting a similar duty on lower riparians.").

(146.) Id. The term sic utere comes from a longer Latin phrase meaning use for yourself as long as you do not spoil it for others. Id.

(147.) Id.

(148.) Id.

(149.) Id. ("Under these principles, every state is free to use its territorial water, provided that it in no way prejudices the rights and uses of other riparian States.").

(150.) Id.

(151.) See Lazerwitz, supra note 139, at 252.

(152.) See Topkaya, supra note 79 ("While this concept of managing a resource based upon its hydrological features as opposed to its political boundaries would be a positive step forward in protecting natural resources, relations among states have not yet evolved to a similar level.").

(153.) Opiela, supra note 14, at 113 ("The most drastic change Texas could make would be to abandon the rule of capture altogether and follow the lead of Arizona in establishing [a] reasonable use doctrine for groundwater management.").

(154.) Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, G.A. Res. 51/229, Annex, U.N. Doc. A/Res/51/229/Annex (May 21, 1997), available at http://www.un.org.

(155.) Id. art. 6.

(156.) Id.

(157.) See generally Sipriano v. Great Spring Waters of Am., 1 S.W.3d 75 (Tex. 1999) (allowing a water company to pump an average of 90,000 gallons of water a day without liability for causing neighbors well to dry). Applying reasonable utilization principles would likely classify use in Sipriano as unreasonable and therefore not allowed.

(158.) See Topkaya, supra note 79.

(159.) Id. ("Countries which [abstained] or voted against this convention are all 'upstream' countries.").

(160.) See Wolf, supra note 116 ("And the people who have built their lives and livelihoods on a reliable source of fresh water are seeing the shortage of this vital resource impinge on all aspects of the tenuous relations that have developed over the years between nations, between economic sectors, and between individuals and their environment.").

(161.) Id.

(162.) Id.

(163.) See id.

(164.) See, e.g., TexasWaterMatters.org, What is Water Planning?, http://www.texas watermatters.org/water_planning.htm (last visited Feb. 4, 2007) ("As part of this process, the state was divided into 16 different planning regions, and a Regional Water Planning Group was appointed for each region.").

(165.) See Wolf, supra note 116.

(166.) See DeLaughter, supra note 23, at 1472 (finding that private investment in the water industry could help ensure an adequate water supply for the future).

(167.) Id. at 1486 (citing LEONARD S. HYMAN ET AL., THE WATER BUSINESS: UNDERSTANDING WATER SUPPLY AND WASTEWATER INDUSTRY 283 (1998)).

(168.) Id. (noting, for example, that "in 1998, a private party sold water rights to LCRA for a staggering $75 million").

(169.) Id.

(170.) See Wolf, supra note 116.

(171.) See DeLaughter, supra note 23, at 1486.

(172.) Id. ("Regulation is a government's substitute for the protection that would otherwise be provided by competition that allows consumers a choice of providers.").

(173.) Id. ("Thus the need for rate and quality regulation will continue whether or not privatization occurs in the water industry.").

(174.) Id. at 1488 (citing LEONARD S. HYMAN ET AL., THE WATER BUSINESS: UNDERSTANDING WATER SUPPLY AND WASTEWATER INDUSTRY 283, 399 (1998)).

(175.) Id.

(176.) Id.

(177.) See DeLaughter, supra note 23, at 1486 ("Although the government will always play a uniquely important role in the water industry by setting health standards and subsidizing water projects, the public may be better served by the joint efforts of the government and private investors.").

(178.) See Wolf, supra note 116 ("Guaranteeing control of a water source adequate to meet future needs....").

(179.) Id.

(180.) David B. Brooks, Water Demand Management: Conceptual Framework and Policy Implementation, in MANAGEMENT OF WATER DEMAND IN AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST (David B. Brooks et al. eds., 1997), available at http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-31795-201. 1-DO_TOPIC.html.

(181.) Id.

(182.) Id.

(183.) See DeLaughter, supra note 23, at 1489.

(184.) Id. at 1489-90.

(185.) Id.

(186.) Brooks, supra note 180.

(187.) Id. (emphasis in original).

(188.) Id.

(189.) See DeLaughter, supra note 23, at 1491 ("Water is supplied inexpensively such that most consumers do not even notice their water bills....").

(190.) Id.

(191.) DeLaughter, supra note 23, at 1491 (citing LEONARD S. HYMAN ET AL., THE WATER BUSINESS: UNDERSTANDING WATER SUPPLY AND WASTEWATER INDUSTRY 45-46 (1998) (predicting that water prices will increase if new technologies are not developed)).