Comparative Study of International Water Markets

The growth of the world's population, the increasing water demand all around the world and the reduction of available water due to climate change effects, have all led to increasing water resources stresses. These conditions would intensify the problems of allocation of water resources. Water trading can be considered as a non-structural approach to decrease the problems of water shortage, without need for huge investments in the installation of water supplies. With this approach, the contributors will also be more motivated to use water efficiently. According to the act of Supreme Council of Water about establish water markets in Iran, the legal issues about markets are mostly solved, and the water authorities have been emphasizing on developing an economical approach in water distribution. Despite all the determination about developing the water markets, neglecting other third-party impacts would lead to a failure. Considering the little experiences about water markets in Iran, this review paper has tried to analyze the effective causes on water markets establishment by analyzing the institutions of water markets in Australia, Western USA, Chile, Spain and China, as well as comparing their performances from different aspects.