This review has explored these various ‘groundwater governance models’.
They are strongly advocated as international ‘best practices’ based on the experiences of specifc countries, even though many have not always been critically examined.
An assessment of the evidence available from these countries, however, indicates that while each of these models has merit, none can claim to have achieved the sustainable use of groundwater. Moreover, there is little evidence to suggest that models that work in the USA or Australia will
work in low-income countries, such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan.