1. ManagementPractice ofTransboundary Groundwater:
The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System
Ahmed R. Khater
Professor, Water Resources Management
National Water Research Center, Egypt.
drkhater@yahoo.com
Executive Summary
The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) is the world’s largest known fossil water aquifer
system. It is located in the Eastern end of the Sahara Desert and spans the political boundaries of
Chad, Egypt, Libya, and Sudan. The NSAS is a strategically crucial regional resource in such an arid
region, which has few alternative freshwater resources. All of the Nubian countries have given top
priority to linking the NSAS to national development goals. Because water stored in the NSAS is
regarded as non-renewable, continued extraction will inevitably result in decline of groundwater
levels and eventual depletion of the resource. Although extraction in relation to the volume stored in
the NSAS might be low, signs of over-extraction have been reported. Transboundary implications in
the NSAS are almost exclusively a function of abstractions. The physical interdependency of the
border‐crossing NSAS inevitably results in the interdependence of all its users and stakeholders. In
summary, the need for technical-socio-political cooperation through joint management of the NSAS
appears necessary as a means of optimizing social development. Such need is emphasized by the
nature of the NSAS as a common pool resource, and since negative transboundary impacts cannot be
ruled out. Cooperation is therefore needed to manage these impacts, and to harmonize the differing
interests.
According to the NSAS practice, initiation of transboundary management stems from the need to
assess the aquifer system’s potential. The main feature of this process is the cooperation to establish
unified and consistent knowledge base on the status of the aquifer system. The mutual interest in
technical cooperation over the NSAS goes back to the early seventies. Institutions and scientists have
since then worked together to develop a better understanding of the aquifer system. Scientific
knowledge is necessary for the specification of the problems and reaching consensuses, but its
translation into policy is conditioned by institutional arrangements and mechanisms. Accordingly, it
is important to establish a joint institutional mechanism that will coordinate the implementation of
plans and management measures. Egypt and Libya initiated the process with establishing the Joint
Authority for the Study and Development of the NSAS in 1991. Sudan joined the Joint Authority in
1996 and Chad followed in 1999. Hence, all NSAS countries are members of the Joint Authority and
mutually acknowledge the significant role of having such regional transboundary management
organization. However, evolution of a functional setup of the Joint Authority has taken almost a
decade to be fully developed with the full membership of the four countries. Achieving a joint
institutional mechanism for transboundary cooperation is always an inevitably long and complex
journey. Political will and commitment from all Governments, are prerequisites for successful
transboundary water management. The NSAS riparian countries have established their cooperation
through the Joint Authority. From the standpoint of governance, the mission of the Joint Authority
has been to provide institutional mechanisms necessary to formalize NSAS regional cooperation.
Most of the activities of the Joint Authority have been devoted to investigation, information
exchange, and monitoring the status of utilization of the aquifer system. Obviously, the Joint
Authority is not actually in charge of management decisions. The major challenge ahead for the Joint

2. Authority will be to promote a transition from transboundary cooperation in information sharing to
joint management.
The continuous support provided from regional and international organizations, started in the early
1970’s, plays a major role in sustaining the mechanisms of regional cooperation addressing joint
management of the NSAS. Support and technical assistance from the international organizations, on
bi- and multi-lateral basis, have contributed to the development of multidisciplinary inter-state
understanding of the characteristics and functioning of the aquifer system. Such regional cooperation
has been instrumental in improved communications and joint setting of priorities over the
management of the NSAS through a Strategic Action Programme (SAP). Endorsed at ministerial
level, the SAP identifies policy, legal and institutional reforms and investments needed to address
priority transboundary problems. The Nubian countries agreed that monitoring and evaluation of the
SAP implementation will be under the co-ordination of the Joint Authority. Simulation models have
proved to be useful tools for monitoring and evaluation of the NSAS. Jointly developed regional
models strengthened NSAS monitoring and evaluation, and succeeded to provide unanimously
accepted technical reference for discussions of transboundary issues and joint management among
the four NSAS countries.
In general, cooperation concerning the use of the NSAS is a strategic choice for the riparian
countries. Transboundary cooperation concerning groundwater resources in the region is still in its
infancy compared to cooperative use of surface water resources. Therefore, the endeavors of the
NSAS countries to jointly agree on the use of a transboundary non-renewable aquifer system may
well provide an example of good practices for other countries. Lessons learned from the experience
of regional cooperation over the transboundary NSAS could help guiding development of
cooperation mechanisms over similar transboundary aquifer systems. Despite the importance of the
NSAS, however, no binding multilateral treaty governs usage of the aquifer system. The NSAS
countries have institutionalized their regional cooperation through the cooperation framework of the
Joint Authority. However, the four NSAS countries expressed their willingness to enhance the
existing framework for developing an agreed legal and institutional mechanism towards a joint four-
partite management of the shared NSAS. The NSAS countries should continue building on this
momentum at the international and regional level to make the NSAS the first of the transboundary
aquifer systems to be governed by a multilateral treaty. This paper argues that the Nubian countries
will make good on this pledge to be an example for the rest of the world by ratifying one of the first
multilateral transboundary aquifer treaties.