the concept of water as an economic

the concept of water as an economic good came up during the preparatory meetings for the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro of 1992. It was brought forward and discussed
extensively during the Dublin conference on Water and the Environment (ICWE, 1992), and became one of the four Dublin Principles (see Box 1.1). The first principle says that water is essential and finite, requiring an integrated approach to water resources
management. The fourth principle says that water is an economic good. However,
since Dublin considerable misunderstanding remained about what the concept of water as an economic good really implies.