Rights-Based and Environmental Approaches to Water Scarcity Mitigation: A Comparative Analysis of Water Governance in Indonesia and India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35719/ijlil.v8i1.477Keywords:
Water Scarcity, Governance, Right To Water, Environmental Law, AccountabilityAbstract
This article examines the legal issue of water scarcity mitigation through rights-based and environment-based water governance in Indonesia and India. The central problem is how the normative recognition of the right to water and environmental protection can be translated into operational, measurable, and accountable public policy instruments, particularly for controlling groundwater extraction and preventing scarcity before crisis occurs. This study uses normative-conceptual legal research based on secondary legal materials, including legislation, constitutional provisions, policy documents, court-oriented doctrinal materials, and scholarly literature. The analysis applies statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, supported by the theory of the human right to water, ecological sustainability, accountability, and multi-level water governance. The findings show that Indonesia has a strong constitutional and statutory foundation for water governance, but its implementation remains constrained by fragmented authority, weak extraction data, administrative licensing, limited monitoring, inconsistent sanctions, and insufficient transparency. India, while also facing regulatory fragmentation, provides comparative lessons through rights-oriented jurisprudence, aquifer mapping, data-driven groundwater management, and community-based monitoring. The novelty of this article lies in proposing a binding reform framework that integrates three pillars: minimum water needs and protection of vulnerable groups, measurable ecological limits, and accountable governance through open data, licensing control, monitoring, participation, and enforceable sanctions. This framework contributes to debates on the policy-implementation gap, justiciability of water rights, and institutional design for sustainable water scarcity prevention.
References
Akarli, Engin Deniz. “Gedik: A Bundle of Rights and Obligations for Istanbul Artisans and Traders, 1750–1840.” In Law, Anthropology, and the Constitution of the Social, 166–200. Cambridge University Press, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511493751.006.
Albuquerque, Catarina de, and Virginia Roaf. “The Human Rights to Water and Sanitation.” Research Handbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Human Rights. Vol. 1249, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788974172.00019.
ALSAÇ, Hatice. “İslâm Hukukunda Küllî Kâidelerin Hukukun İşlevleri Arasındaki Antinomi/Çatışma Bağlamında Değerlendirilmesi.” Hitit İlahiyat Dergisi 21, no. 2 (December 2022): 1095–1126. https://doi.org/10.14395/hid.1156814.
Arrojo Agudo, Pedro. “Crisis Global Del Agua En El Planeta Agua, El Planeta Azul.” Revista Catalana de Dret Públic 2024, no. 68 (June 2024): 6–18. https://doi.org/10.58992/rcdp.i68.2024.4258.
Ati, Srilekha, Suchismita Satpathy, and Srishti Saxena. “Perceived Public Service Performance, Trust in the Government, and Citizens’ Willingness to Participate: Evidence from Water Governance in Visakhapatnam, India.” Water Policy 26, no. 6 (June 2024): 618–34. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2024.036.
Barral, Virginie. “Towards Judicial Coordination For Good Water Governance?” International and Comparative Law Quarterly 67, no. 4 (October 22, 2018): 931–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020589318000301.
Bhushan, Bharat. “Bioinspired Strategies for Water Collection and Water Purification.” In Springer Series in Materials Science, 279:665–701, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71676-3_17.
Boyd, David R. “Catalyst for Change.” In The Human Right to a Healthy Environment, 11:17–41. Cambridge University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108367530.002.
Chitonge, Horman. “Urbanisation and the Water Challenge in Africa: Mapping out Orders of Water Scarcity.” African Studies 79, no. 2 (April 2020): 192–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2020.1793662.
Central Ground Water Authority, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India. Guidelines to Regulate and Control Ground Water Extraction in India. New Delhi: Government of India.
Cullet, Philippe, Lovleen Bhullar, and Sujith Koonan. “Regulating the Interactions between Climate Change and Groundwater: Lessons from India.” Water International 42, no. 6 (August 2017): 646–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2017.1351056.
Fuller. “Population Growth, Climate Change and Water Scarcity in the Southwestern United States.” American Journal of Environmental Sciences 6, no. 3 (March 2010): 249–52. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajessp.2010.249.252.
Garcia Batista Lima Moraes, Gabriela, and Nathalia Peres Bernardes. “A Discricionariedade Técnica Administrativa Limitada Pelos Estudos Técnicos Dos Impactos Hídricos Na Análise Com Base Em Casos De Mineração No Distrito Federal, Brasil.” Revista de Estudos Empíricos Em Direito 11 (November 2024). https://doi.org/10.19092/reed.v11.801.
Gleick, Peter H., and Heather Cooley. “Freshwater Scarcity.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 46, no. 1 (October 2021): 319–48. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-101319.
Government of India. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act Nomor 6 of 1974. http://www.moef.nic.in/legis/water/water7.html.
Government Of India. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (Act No.29 of 1986) (1986). https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/4316/1/ep_act_1986.pdf.
Indonesia, Republic. Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945.
Indonesia, Republic. Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management.
Jadeja, Y., B. Maheshwari, R. Packham, Hakimuddin Bohra, R. Purohit, B. Thaker, P. Dillon, et al. “Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater Use: Developing a Capacity Building Program for Creating Local Groundwater Champions.” Sustainable Water Resources Management 4, no. 2 (June 2018): 317–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-018-0228-6.
Joshi, Dhaval, Himanshu Kulkarni, and Uma Aslekar. “Bringing Aquifers and Communities Together: Decentralised Groundwater Governance in Rural India.” In Springer Water, 157–85, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2700-1_9.
Kulkarni, Himanshu, Mihir Shah, and P.S. Vijay Shankar. “Shaping the Contours of Groundwater Governance in India.” Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 4 (September 2015): 172–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2014.11.004.
Kumar, Amit, Suruchi Singh, Manoj Kumar Patley, Faiz Memon, Sanjay Agrawal, Sapna Kinattinkara, and Thangavelu Arumugam. “Sustainable Groundwater Management through Government-Supported Convergence in Rajnandgaon District, Chhattisgarh, India.” Discover Applied Sciences 7, no. 10 (October 2025): 1124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-025-07753-0.
Langbroek, Philip, Kees Van den Bos, Marc Simon Thomas, Michael Milo, and Wibo Van Rossum. “Editorial
Methodology of Legal Research: Challenges and Opportunities.” Utrecht Law Review 13, no. 3 (December 13, 2017): 1. https://doi.org/10.18352/ulr.411.
Lele, Sharachchandra, Karthik Madhyastha, Swati Sulagna, R. Dhavamani, and Veena Srinivasan. “Match, Don’t Mix: Implications of Institutional and Technical Service Modalities for Water Governance Outcomes in South Indian Small Towns.” Water Policy 20, no. S1 (March 2018): 12–35. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2018.002.
Lieberherr, Eva, and Karin Ingold. “Actors in Water Governance: Barriers and Bridges for Coordination.” Water 11, no. 2 (February 2019): 326. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11020326.
Maneewan, Chayanun, and Marjorie Van Roon. “Challenges in Implementing Integrated Catchment Management and Sustainable Stormwater Solutions in Bangkok, Thailand.” Water Practice and Technology 12, no. 4 (December 2017): 780–89. https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2017.085.
Meinzen-Dick, Ruth, and Bryan Bruns. “Crafting Combinations to Govern Groundwater: Knowledge, Motivation, and Agency.” International Journal of the Commons 18, no. 1 (October 7, 2024): 585–600. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1473.
Ménard, Claude, Alejandro Jimenez, and Hakan Tropp. “Addressing the Policy-Implementation Gaps in Water Services: The Key Role of Meso-Institutions.” Water International 43, no. 1 (January 2018): 13–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2017.1405696.
Motha, Raymond P. “Disaster Reduction Planning and Response: The Example of National Drought Policy in the USA.” In Natural Disasters and Extreme Events in Agriculture, 179–93. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-28307-2_11.
Nations, The United. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, The United Nations § (1966). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315236674-25.
Nations, United. “Goal 6: Ensure Access to Water and Sanitation for All,” n.d.
Panoussis, Ioannis. “L’émergence Progressive d’un Droit Subjectif à l’environnement Sain En Droit International Des Droits de l’Homme.” Revista de Estudos Constitucionais, Hermenêutica e Teoria Do Direito 15, no. 1 (September 2023): 22–40. https://doi.org/10.4013/rechtd.2023.151.02.
Pasqualotto, Ana Paula. Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (2009).
Patrick, Roger. “When the Well Runs Dry: The Slow Train Wreck of Global Water Scarcity.” Journal AWWA 107, no. 3 (March 2015): 65–76. https://doi.org/10.5942/jawwa.2015.107.0042.
Rajendrakumar, Selvaraj, D. Mavhaire, S. Shimly, Dil Bahadur Rahut, N. Tharanidevi, V.S. Ramachandran, and Raja Rajendra Timilsina. “Drivers and Barriers towards Achieving SDG 6 on Clean Water and Sanitation for All - an Indian Perspective.” World Development Sustainability 7, no. October 2024 (December 2025): 100228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wds.2025.100228.
Ratajczyk, Elicia, Ute Brady, Jacopo A. Baggio, Allain J. Barnett, Irene Perez-Ibarra, Nathan Rollins, Cathy Rubiños, et al. “Challenges and Opportunities in Coding the Commons: Problems, Procedures, and Potential Solutions in Large-N Comparative Case Studies.” International Journal of the Commons 10, no. 2 (September 9, 2016): 440. https://doi.org/10.18352/ijc.652.
Republic of Indonesia. Law Number 17 of 2019 concerning Water Resources (2019).
———. Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 14 of 2008 concerning Public Information Disclosure (2008).
———. Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 25 of 2009 concerning Public Services.
———. Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages, Indonesia.
Rights, The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 34/180 of December 18 1979, United Nations (1979). https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/cedaw.pdf.
Robert, Luc. “Regulating Prison Life: A Case Study of the Inmate Disciplinary System.” In Facing the Limits of the Law, 1–17. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79856-9_8.
Saha, Dipankar, Sanjay Marwaha, and S. N. Dwivedi. “National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme: A Step Towards Water Security in India.” In Springer Water, 49–66, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2700-1_3.
Sambo, Calvin, Aidan Senzanje, and Onisimo Mutanga. “Assessing Inequalities in Sustainable Access to Improved Water Services Using Service Level Indicators in a Rural Municipality of South Africa.” Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 11, no. 6 (2021): 887–901. https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2021.234.
Schwartz, Franklin W., Ganming Liu, and Zhongbo Yu. “HESS Opinions: The Myth of Groundwater Sustainability in Asia.” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 24, no. 1 (January 2020): 489–500. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-489-2020.
Spijkers, Otto. “The Sustainable Human Right to Water as Reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals.” Utrecht Law Review 16, no. 2 (October 30, 2020): 18–32. https://doi.org/10.36633/ulr.560.
The Constitution of India, The Constitution of India § (2017). https://doi.org/10.5040/9781849468718.
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. “General Comment No. 15: The Right to Water.” Population Headliners, 2002.
Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 17 of 2019. Law (UU) Number 17 of 2019 concerning Water Resources, Pub. L. No. 17, JDIH BPK RI Database Regulation 50 (2019). https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Home/Details/122742/uu-no-17-tahun-2019.
United Nations. Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses 1997, General Assembly of the United Nations on May 21 1997 § (1997). https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004632257.
Vora, Shuchi. “Learning Together for Groundwater Management: A Case of the Devnadi Basin, Nashik, Maharashtra, India.” International Journal of the Commons 18, no. 1 (August 6, 2024): 507–21. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1323.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Putu Wahyu Widiartana, Roqiyul Maarif Syam; Dewa Krisna Prasada
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
