A non-recharging aquifer is an aquifer with insignificant or no source of contemporary recharge.  It is an aquifer that is detached from the hydrologic cycle and any water found within the aquifer is non-renewable.  By definition, such aquifers cannot be utilized sustainably as any withdrawal eventually will exhaust the resource.

Non-recharging aquifers raise questions and issues that often differ from those associated with recharging aquifers.  For example, should such depleteable resources be managed under the same legal principles as those applied to recharging aquifers or, possibly, those applied to other non-renewable resources like oil and gas deposits?  Should non-renewable ground water be subject to the free market and depleted in relation to the notions of supply and demand?  Should regulators step in and place controls on the pace at which such resources are depleted, or limitations on the purposes for which non-renewable ground water may be used?  Additional complications arise where a non-recharging aquifer lies across a political boundary.  Now, in addition to the above questions, issues arise related to the sovereignty over, ownership of, and rights to the waters located in the transboundary non-recharging aquifer.

While the regulatory focus of the discussion will be primarily international, the factors considered and perspective presented will be broad and will include such issues as the commodification of water, water as a human right, international water law, and water ethics.  This presentation is not intended to offer any definitive assessment with regard to how non-recharging aquifer are managed or treated under international law.  Rather, because of the dearth of experience and only a nascent and fragmented international legal structure applicable to such resources, this talk is intended to advance the conversation and identify many of the factors that should be considered in developing regulatory and management schemes for non-recharging aquifers.