The Centre for Sustainable Solutions in Practical Hydrogeology and the Middle Eastern Water Forum are hosting a simulation of negotiations between two "countries" over their transboundary river-aquifer system. Real transboundary water law experts and hydrologists, including Rosario Sanchez, Ph.D., Texas Water Resources Institute senior research scientist, will take on the roles of negotiators in the simulation.
The free event takes place on September 15 on Zoom at 8 a.m. Central (1 p.m. GMT). Interested attendees are asked to register and fill out a survey prior to the event.
The simulated negotiations deal with the upstream country, Hilli’stan, and the downstream country, Valli'stan, and their conflicting water needs over a shared transboundary river and aquifer system. Hilli'stan wishes to draw on the resources in the aquifers for urgent public supply needs. Meanwhile, Valli’stan is using a large amount of water for irrigation, which could be impacted by the new well fields. It wants to expand irrigation but needs the upstream neighbor to undertake either a dam construction or modify its groundwater use.
A "dress rehearsal" of the negotiations happened on September 4. See the materials for that event here.