The Right to Water

The intellectual origins of the term ‘the right to water’ can be traced to some of the proclamations of international conferences, and it gained currency from the interpretation of an international treaty. Currently, the right to water has become part of the common parlance on water issues, and not only among jurists. From a legal point of view, clarification is required in order to describe the right's content, those who are obliged to grant it, and the mechanisms by which it can be claimed when denied; equally, it has to be differentiated from certain of the contents of traditional water law, such as the communal use of water, that are conceptually distinct. Proposals are taking place to incorporate the right to water into Spanish law in the knowledge, however, that the concept is most applicable in Third World countries that will inevitably require international cooperation in order to comply with it.