PrepTest 155, Section 3, Question 11

Working the answers

• A

  Ecosystem protection is already among the articles' goals. The criticism isn't simply that they manage water instead of protecting rivers. It's that they don't satisfactorily explain how allocations will respond to environmental changes.

• B

  The articles are expressly based on customary legal principles. The author doesn't identify an accepted principle that the commission forgot to incorporate.

• C

  The title mentions non-navigational uses, but no conflict between navigation and other uses is developed. A question about boats needing water versus farms withdrawing it might be interesting; it isn't the defect the author identifies.

• D
  Correct

  The fourth paragraph criticizes “fixed amounts” that won't accommodate large fluctuations. It then explains that rigid adherence would “unjustly favor” the countries using the most water. That is exactly the connection between specific quantities and future inequity described here.

• E

  This is tempting because the author does say extensive users would be favored. But E adds a problem about assisting countries expanding their uses and characterizes the favored countries as more industrialized. The stated flaw concerns fixed allocations under changing flows, not an assistance policy or a comparison of industrialization.