The aspects of legal regulation of water use agreement

The study discusses the issues of improving the legal water use agreement model in order to keep a balance between the public and private interests in the legal regulation of these relationships. It is proposed to amend the Russian water legislation to ensure the environmental feasibility and economic viability of water use agreements. The author reveals that an agreement under consideration can be regarded as a mixed-type civil contract. It substantiates the fact that the fundamental principles of civil law, including the principles of equality of the parties to legal relationships, good faith, and private initiatives, can apply to water use agreement. The aspects of the principle of good faith are analyzed in the context of water use regulation by treaty. Based on the legal characteristics of the legal regime set up in relation to water bodies as a subject of property relations, the author emphasizes the need to establish the specific criteria for assessing the good faith of the parties to water use agreements regarding due diligence in water body safety matters as such a criterion.