This publication provides conceptual material for use in the preparation of national regulations for the management, development, use and protection of freshwater resources. The conceptual material is arranged according to the principal functions of water resources management, and it is complemented and illustrated by examples of original water management regulations. These have been drawn from a wide variety of mostly English-speaking countries.

A robust regulatory framework for the corporate governance of water user's organizations is a fundamental ingredient of irrigation management transfer policies. The present publication offers a comparative analysis of the contemporary legislation of a wide variety of countries, providing the needed regulatory framework for water user's organizations to function and grow.

This publication provides the text of general conventions, declarations, resolutions and decisions adopted by international organizations, international NGOs and international and arbitral tribunals on international rivers, lakes, relevant basins and underground aquifers. It provides easy access to a vast body of sources of international water law.

This document describes combating desertification through the use of unconventional water resources.

This publication contains the papers presented at the Expert Consultation on Issues in Water Law Reform, convened by FAO in Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, 3 to 5 June 1997. The Expert Consultation was the first activity under, and served as a launch for, the FAO-funded and -executed project of technical assistance to the Republic of South Africa, TCP/SAF/6711 "Review of water legislation". It was arranged and timed so as to provide a comparative water law and administration input to the drafting of a National Water Bill, then underway.

The study provides a framework to estimate the health risk of farmers using wastewater in agriculture.
The study addresses the SDG 6.3: to contribute to inform water recycling and reuse.
Exposure to wastewater via contact with Nhue River water, pond water and composted excreta represents an important health risk.
Study results are useful in developing an integrated strategy for risk management in the agricultural settings.

This report aims to provide a conceptual framework to address food security under conditions of water scarcity in agriculture. It has been prepared by a team of FAO staff and consultants in the framework of the project `Coping with water scarcity: the role of agriculture?, and has been discussed at an Expert Consultation meeting organized in FAO, Rome in December 2009 on the same subject. It was subsequently edited and revised, taking account of discussions in the Expert Consultation and materia ls presented to the meeting.

L’objectif du présent rapport est d’offrir un cadre conceptuel permettant de faire face aux problèmes de sécurité alimentaire dans une situation de pénurie d’eau pour l’agriculture. Il a été préparé par une équipe de spécialistes de la FAO et de consultants dans le cadre du projet «Faire face à la pénurie d’eau – le rôle de l’agriculture», et a été examiné à l’occasion d’une réunion de consultation des experts organisée à la FAO, Rome, du 14 au 16 décembre 2009 sur le même sujet.

During the last decade, the concept of water demand management has received increasing attention from both academics and development agencies and banks. In the face of rising costs for supply augmentation and concerns over the apparently inefficient use of water in agriculture, managing demand appears a priority means of mitigating water scarcity problems. Economists, in particular, have used theoretical frameworks to argue for the use of "economic instruments" to provide incentives that may lea d to water saving or enhancing economic efficiency.

FAO's AQUASTAT programme, initiated in 1993, aims to meet the demand for information on water resources and use at regional level, with particular emphasis on irrigation and drainage. The objectives of the programme are to collect and present, in a systematic way, data on rural water use at country level.