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Show USE OF INTERNATIONAL STREAMS* There are given below some of the international agreements with respect to the use of rivers and lakes having an international aspect. It is by no means comprehensive but is believed to be sufficient to indicate the trend of thought concerning the adjustment of Questions relating to the equitable distribution of the beneficial uses of such -waters. No one of these agreements adopts the early theory advanced by Attorney General Harmon of the right of a state to ap- propriate all of the water, within its jurisdiction, of a stream which passes from its territory to a subjacent state. On the contrary, the rights of the subjacent state are specifically recognized and protected by these agreements. This is particularly demonstrated in the agreement between Great Britain and Egypt with respect to the river Nile, wherein not only existing uses in Egypt are recognized but the right to -further and more extensive uses is taken into account. The arrangement concluded between those Governments has been referred to as exemplary in character and as forming a valuable precedent. Likewise, the convention between the United States and Great Britain with respect to the waters along the boundary between the United States and Canada is important as showing the modern trend with reference to the distribution of waters as be- tween neighboring states, wherein the waters of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers are divided equally between the United States and Canada, notwithstanding the fact that most of the supply comes from sources within the United States and the combined flow of the two rivers is insufficient to meet all of the irri- gation needs of the regions through which they pass. The river Nile is used largely for irrigation purposes in the Sudan region and in Egypt. It and the lakes and rivers emptying into it have formed the subject of a number of agreements between Great Britain and other countries designed to prevent interference with beneficial uses of the waters throughout their course to the Mediterranean. For example by a protocol between Great Britain and Italy signed on April 15, 1891* delimiting spheres of influence in East Africa, the Italian Government agreed frnot to construct on the Atbara, in view of irrigation, any work which might sensibly modify its flow into the Nile." Art- III. 83 Br. and For. St. Paps. 19, 21. Article III of the Treaty between the United Kingdom and Ethiopia, signed May 15, I902, recited that the Emperor of Ethiopia engaged "not to construct, or allow to be constructed, any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana, or the Sobat which -would arrest the flow of their waters into the Nile except in agree- ment with His Britannic Majesty's Government and the Government of the Soudan." Treaty Series, No. 16, Cd. 1370. By Article III of the agreement signed on May 9,' I906, by Great Britain and the Independent State of the Congo, modifying the agreement of I89U re- lating to the spheres of influence in east and central Africa, "The Government of the Independent State of the Congo undertake not to construct, or allow to be con- structed, any work on or near the Semliki or Isango ?Prepared by Legal Adviser of the United States Department of State, May 26, 19l£. •30- |
