About

Gabriel Eckstein is a Professor of Law at Texas A&M University School of Law, where he also serves as the Director of the Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resource Systems Law Program and the Environmental & Natural Resources Systems Clinic. His research broadly addresses water, energy, and environmental issues, with recent focus on legal issues related to geothermal energy, groundwater regulation, international and US law applicable to cross-border aquifers, and disputes over freshwater resources at interstate and international levels. Eckstein has a background in science, holding a dual B.A. in Geology and International Relations from Kent State University, an LL.M. in International Environmental Law, and a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. Prior to academia, he worked as a trial attorney on toxic tort and asbestos cases, served as in-house counsel for a trade association in the pesticide and crop science industry, and consulted on global water and environmental issues for international organizations. He has been recognized with numerous awards, including election as a Member of the American Law Institute in 2024 and the International Association of Hydrogeologists Distinguished Associate Award in 2021. Eckstein is passionate about integrating scientific knowledge into legal frameworks to create balanced and responsive policies for society and the environment.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Environmental science
• Business
• Geography
• Engineering
• Ecology
• Sociology
• Water resource management
• Environmental planning
• Natural resource economics
• Economics
• Management
• Cartography
• Environmental resource management
• Law
• Environmental economics
• Environmental engineering

Selected publications

• Conceptualizing Trust Using the Helmand River as an Example

  2026-01-06

  book-chapter

  Abstract Establishing trust is the foundation for sustainable and reliable cooperation between co-riparian states of a shared river basin. Lack of trust threatens water availability and accessibility at the transboundary level. Using a cost–benefit analysis (CBA), this chapter assesses the challenges of trust at the transboundary Helmand River from the lens of SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threats), a conceptual decision support model (DSM). Despite signing and ratifying the Helmand River Treaty, both upstream and downstream nations failed to fully implement it. While both states were responsible for specifying the three points of water delivery near the Afghan–Iranian political border after ratification, social unrest in Afghanistan, political regime changes in Iran, and the start of a hydraulic mission in Iran in the 1980s and in Afghanistan in the early 2000s hampered those efforts, eventually generating mistrust between the two nations. Also, both nations prioritize national interest over the transboundary interest, which further threatens water availability and accessibility, especially given the adverse effects of climate change. Thus, a DSM is essential for building trust and cooperation as water availability and accessibility, particularly at the transboundary level, are being impacted by climatic changes. In particular, a CBA of the DSM will enable riparian states to address vulnerability to water and the ecosystem in response to climate changes. If trust and cooperation in the basin improve, joint investment in water infrastructures will lead to socioeconomic development that will further support the trust-building processes between the riparians of the Helmand River basin.

  PublisherDOI

• The Role of International Law in Water Security: A Focus on Transboundary Groundwater

  WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks · 2025-03-01

  book-chapterSenior author

  Historically, challenges to international water security have primarily been associated with transboundary surface waters. While water wars are rare, examples from practice and research show that there is a link between transboundary freshwater resources and international security, where disputes and conflicts related to the use, allocation, or protection of transboundary waters have seriously challenged water security. However, there are also examples of cooperation, namely over shared surface waters. While groundwater, especially in a transboundary context, has yet to be fully exploited around the world, the volume of water available to mankind from underground sources substantially exceeds the amount of water found in all of the freshwater lakes, rivers, and other surface water bodies. As the pressure on this vital source of freshwater increases, transboundary aquifers will also become the focus of water security challenges as they relate to their use, management, and conservation. The central hypothesis of this chapter is that development of international law applicable to transboundary groundwater resources can help improve global water security and prevent future conflicts. This chapter first describes the concept of water security and analyzes the link between freshwater resources and international security. It also provides examples of both water-related disputes and conflicts and successful cooperative mechanisms. The history of successful international agreements, though mostly related to surface waters, indicates that a preventative effect can be achieved especially if states conclude context-specific accords. Thus, the chapter argues that international water law can address challenges to water security and contribute to the mitigation of disputes and conflicts related to transboundary freshwater resources. More specifically, it maintains that this conclusion is similarly applicable to transboundary groundwater resources. Since international agreements addressing transboundary groundwater are generally rare, states should more intensively seek to conclude context-specific agreements on the management and allocation of shared groundwater to prevent future or mitigate already existing disputes and challenges to water security. In addition, international customary law applicable to transboundary groundwater needs to be explored in order to identify principles and trends in the law that can be used by nations for such agreements. International customary law can also fill legal gaps where states are reluctant to conclude international agreements.

  PublisherDOI

• The extraordinary drought provision and the future of the Rio Grande water deliveries under the 1944 US–Mexico water treaty: an exploratory policy analysis

  Water International · 2025-02-17 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The ‘extraordinary drought’ provision contained in the legal framework governing water allocation between Mexico and the United States has been applied differently on the Colorado River, Upper Rio Grande, and Lower Rio Grande. While the provision has been interpreted to require proportional water allocation reductions during droughts for both parties on the Colorado and Upper Rio Grande, it has been applied very differently on the Lower Rio Grande where it binds Mexico to make up delivery shortfalls in subsequent cycles. Given climatic, economic, and population pressures in the Lower Rio Grande basin, application of the ‘extraordinary drought’ provision requires reconsideration.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Historical Overview of the Evolution and Broadening of International Water Law

  WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks · 2025-03-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  The development of international water law can be traced back to early civilizations that settled around the banks of rivers and lakes around the world. As they expanded their efforts to domesticate crops, build fluvial trade routes, and provide clean water to their populations, these communities developed complex rules for the navigation, allocation, and use of waters that cross political frontiers. This, in turn, sparked the development of what we now call international water law. Over time, as these fluvial civilizations grew and evolved, so did the law. It was adapted and modified in relation to changes in societal values, technological and political developments, and even environmental pressures. And in the past few hundred years, it was adapted to fit the new international legal order in which nation-states functioned as the main subjects of international law, and sovereignty became their mainstay. This chapter provides a historical overview of the development and evolution of international water law. It briefly reviews the early navigation-focusing eras and then concentrates on the more modern permutations of the law and its emphasis on non-navigational uses, such as for irrigation, energy production, manufacturing, drinking water, and the environment. It also considers how the law has expanded and adapted in response to new priorities and discoveries, such as wetlands and unconventional freshwater sources, as well as how the regime interacts with other international legal regimes, including international environmental law, human rights, and the sustainable development goals.

  PublisherDOI

• BACK MATTER

  2025-03-01

  paratextSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Challenges and prospects of reclaimed water reuse in Spanish agriculture

  Water International · 2025-04-28 · 5 citations

  article

  A comprehensive analysis of reclaimed water in Spanish agriculture indicates that these practices are predominately concentrated in coastal areas, with moderate expansion into inland regions. Despite some progress, several barriers persist across political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal dimensions. The most influential barriers include salinity, emerging contaminants, weak institutional coordination and slow administrative procedures. Overcoming these obstacles calls for stronger regulatory frameworks, greater collaboration among government agencies and stakeholders, improved treatment technologies, and more effective management practices. Together, these efforts can pave the way for wider adoption of wastewater reclamation and reuse projects in Spain.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction—Emerging Pollutants in Water: Threats, Challenges, and Research Needs

  Advances in water security · 2025-01-01 · 5 citations

  book-chapterOpen accessSenior author

  Water is indispensable for life, health, and environmental sustainability, as underscored by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Traditional water quality assessments have historically focused on pathogens, nutrients, and heavy metals. However, recent decades have witnessed growing concerns over Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs), a diverse class of pollutants with potential risks to human health and ecosystems. CECs encompass pharmaceuticals, personal care products, endocrine-disrupting compounds, and microplastics, entering water bodies via wastewater, industrial discharge, and agricultural runoff. Their persistence and adverse effects pose significant challenges to water treatment technologies. This manuscript explores the scientific understanding, environmental fate, and societal implications of emerging pollutants globally. It highlights gaps in regulatory frameworks, monitoring data scarcity, and the urgent need for innovative strategies to mitigate and manage impacts of emerging pollutants in water. Drawing from international collaborations and advancements in scientific research, technology and policy, it advocates for integrated approaches to monitor, assess, and manage emerging pollutants, ensuring sustainable water resource management and safeguarding human and environmental health in a changing world.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Science-Based Policy Recommendations for Managing Emerging Pollutants: Protecting Water Quality for the Health of People and the Environment

  Advances in water security · 2025-01-01

  book-chapterOpen access

  Emerging water pollutants are a growing global concern due to their ubiquitous presence in water resources worldwide and their potential adverse effects on human health and ecosystems. Limited scientific understanding of sources of emerging pollutants’ emissions to water bodies and their pathways, behaviour, and fate in aquatic environments, as well as human health and ecological effects, is a significant hindrance in managing emerging water pollutants. With exceptions concerning PFAS/PFOS and microplastic beads, there are few regulations for emerging pollutants in national water and environmental policies, which results in a critical gap in safeguarding human health and aquatic ecosystems through effective prevention, reduction, and management strategies. This chapter presents a set of science-based policy recommendations for managing emerging water pollutants, particularly for the protection of aquatic ecosystems and groundwater resources, as well as through proper wastewater and waste management, including the circular economy approach and lifecycle management of pollutants. Policy recommendations are also proposed for managing priority emerging pollutants such as microplastics, nanomaterials, and trace chemicals. The policy recommendations emanate from key policy-relevant findings of research studies and scientific discussions presented at the UNESCO-IWRA International Conference on “Emerging Pollutants: Protecting Water Quality for the Health of People and Ecosystems,” which took place online in January 2023, gathering over 170 state-of-the-art research studies on wide-ranging topics related to emerging water pollutants.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• FRONT MATTER

  2025-03-01

  paratextSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Introduction

  WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks · 2025-03-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  International water law (IWL) comprises the legal regime that governs the relations of nations over their freshwater resources. It provides a framework for the conduct of states in relation to the regulation, allocation, management, and protection of transboundary freshwater bodies, including rivers, lakes, wetlands, and aquifers. It also provides a set of legal tools that nations can utilize when seeking cooperation and addressing disputes over internationally shared freshwater resources (Wouters, 2005). From the substantive norms of equitable and reasonable utilization and of no significant harm to the procedural principles of prior notification and exchange of information, these tools have evolved and been applied in various contexts to address growing water challenges around the world. Among others, these include rising demand, dwindling supplies, inequitable distribution, and environmental changes due to climatic and other phenomena, as well as the need to meet emerging ecological, cultural, and other priorities

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Rosario Sanchez

  Texas A&M University

  16 shared

• Yoram Eckstein

  10 shared

• Ariella D’Andrea

  Secretariat of the Pacific Community

  7 shared

• Alice Aureli

  5 shared

• Shlomi Dinar

  5 shared

• Jeroen Warner

  Wageningen University & Research

  5 shared

• Neda Zawahri

  Cleveland State University

  5 shared

• Stefano Burchi

  Center for International Environmental Law

  5 shared

Education

• LL.M. (Master of Laws), Washington College of Law

  American University

  1997

• J.D. (Juris Doctor), Washington College of Law

  American University

  1995

Awards & honors

• 2024 Elected as a Member of the American Law Institute
• 2021 International Association of Hydrogeologists Distinguis…
• 2016 Vermont Law School Distinguished International Environm…
• 2012 Texas Wesleyan University Board of Trustees Faculty Sch…
• 2011 Awarded "Best Paper" for 2011 in Water International by…