Illegal Use of Water: How to Investigate an Invisible Phenomenon

Although there is extensive international research on the illegal use of natural resources, research on illegal water uses is rather limited and takes place almost exclusively in countries that often suffer from water scarcity or in developing or emerging countries where there are fundamental limitations in state governance and water supply and sanitation infrastructure. At the same time, research on illegal use of water poses methodological challenges that should not be underestimated, since illegal activities generally do not take place in public, are not recorded in a systemic way and in some cases, even if they are known, are not officially addressed. To this end, a systematic review of previous multidisciplinary, international research on the illegal use of water was prepared. Following a criteria based systematic literature review we employed a four step design to identify relevant key literature from 1990. The review addresses the following questions: What forms of illegal water uses have been analyzed in research so far? What leads to non-compliance with legal or official requirements for water abstraction from ground or surface waters or other unauthorised water uses? Which motivations drive the actors who consciously or unconsciously violate procedures and how they justify their actions and which hydrological, ecological, economic or social impacts and consequences the illegal water uses have. Further, the review puts a focus on the methods applied to overcome the described challenges connected to the illegality of water use activities. The review delivers an important basis to identify central research priorities, methodological approaches and continuing gaps in research can be identified.