Module 1: Building a Legal Foundation for Good Water Governance

1. Module 1:Building a Legal Foundation for Good Water Governance

2. Discussion What water protection and management issues are you facing?

3. Good Governance is Essential for Sustainable Development At the domestic level, sound environmental, social, and economic policies, democratic institutions responsive to the needs of the people, the rule of law, anti-corruption measures, gender equality, and an enabling environment for investment are the basis for sustainable development. Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, Para. 4

4. Good Water Governance is Essential for Sustainable Water Resources Development and Management

5. Implementing Environmental Policy through Legal Requirements Mont-Orford National Park, Quebec. Source: Bodin, Marie-Aude/UNESCO.

6. Drivers for Environmental Goals • Public Health • Environmental Quality • Conservation of Natural Resources • Economics • Sustainable Development Goals, including Poverty Reduction and Gender Equity

7. Mandates for Environmental Protection • Constitution • Legislation and Sub-legislation • Judicial Decisions • Treaties • Public Demand • Enforceable Settlements

8. Sources of Environmental Requirements International Treaties and Non-binding Declarations Permits and Licenses

9. Cascading the Requirements • National Standards • Provincial or Local Standards • Facility-specific Application via Permits/Licenses

10. Responses to Water Management Issues: Behavioral Change • Drivers of behavior • Economic incentives • Social norms • Strategies to bring about behavioral change • Public education and awareness raising • Compliance assistance • Enforcement / Deterrence

11. Methods for Achieving Environmental Goals Aerial view of the Brazilian Amazon. Source: UNESCO; Luis Alberto.

12. Communication Strategies • Environmental Impact Assessment • Introduces possible alternatives for consideration • Raises awareness among public and responsible officials • Works best with meaningful public participation • Community Right-to-Know • Empowers communities by providing knowledge • Provides information to public watchdogs • Enables better targeting of enforcement actions

13. Incentive Strategies Measures aimed at motivating action toward environmental goals by harnessing economic, social, and other drivers of behavior. • Tax Incentives • Subsidies or other Financial Support • Recognition/Awards for Meeting Higher Standards

14. Market-Based Approaches • Effluent Trading – market-based mechanism for water pollution control • Firms with lower control costs reduce effluent more and are able to sell effluent credits to firms with higher control costs within the same river basin • E.g.: Australia Salinity Trading Program • Benefits of using a market-based approach • Brings economic forces to bear on environmental protection efforts • Provides greater flexibility to industry to achieve environmental goals • Generates continual incentive to reduce pollution • Potentially requires fewer regulatory resources • Enforcement is required to provide confidence in the market

15. Discussion Types of Standards

16. Defining What, Where, & When:Environmental Standards • Ambient Standards • Set goals for the quality of a water body (or bodies) • Arsenic concentrations in any protected water body shall not exceed 50 ppb • Performance Standards • Limit the rate or amount of discharges that a facility can release into the environment • No facility shall discharge effluent containing arsenic in concentrations greater than 50 ppb • Technology Standards • Require the regulated community to use a particular type of technology • Farms with more than 100 livestock must have runoff holding ponds • Practice Standards • Require or prohibit certain activities • Aerial spraying shall be conducted at a distance not less than 300 meters from any protected water source

17. Discussion: Is This An Enforceable Requirement? “No facility shall discharge too much pollution into the rivers.”

18. Elements of Enforceable Requirements • Who: • Who does the requirement cover? (e.g. owners or operators of a facility) • What: • What can’t they do? What must they do? (e.g. shall not discharge more than a certain amount of a pollutant) • Where: • Specific locations where regulations apply (e.g. to protected waters) • When: • Give any temporal restrictions or exceptions (e.g. except at start-up or shut-down)

19. Sample Requirement The owner or operator of a registered sewage treatment plant shall not discharge more than 90 mg/l of suspended solids to a protected water from its permitted discharge pipe except during cleaning of the surge tank.

20. Other Things to Consider:Developing Enforceable Language To ensure that the requirement has taken all appropriate factors into account: • Engage the regulated community • Ensure public participation through comment periods • Compare with similar requirements in other contexts or countries

21. Other Things to Consider:Beyond Enforceable Language • Well-written standards are enforceable, but that does not necessarily mean they will be enforced • Factors: • Cost • Technical & human resources • Feasibility for the regulated community • Political will • Lack of public attention to issue

22. Other Things to Consider: Environmental Impact Assessment • EIAs can be used as an information tool • EIAs may provide guidance when setting site-specific standards • EIAs may be used as or become an enforceable requirement

23. Other Things to Consider:Cross-Issue Connections • Consider the impact of water regulation on all sectors • e.g., a water distribution plan affects forestry, mining, agriculture, and other land uses • Consider regulating other issues that may indirectly affect water quality • e.g., Large-scale construction projects may dramatically increase sedimentation, leading to decreases in water quality

24. ExerciseWriting the Requirement

25. Coming Up Next • Module 1: Building a Legal Foundation for Good Water Governance • Module 2: Promoting Compliance with Environmental Laws • Module 3: Responding to Violations of Environmental Laws • Module 4: Designing Performance Indicators for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Programs