Searching Out the Headwaters

by Bates, Sarah F.; Getches, David H.; MacDonnell, Lawrence J. (CON)

• ISBN13: 9781559632171
• ISBN10: 1559632178
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-10-01
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

To the uninitiated, water policy seems a complicated, hypertechnical, and incomprehensible subject: a tangle of engineering jargon and legalese surrounding a complex, delicate, and interrelated structure. Decisions concerning the public's waters involve scant public participation, and in such a context, reform seems risky at best.Searching Out the Headwatersaddresses that precarious situation by providing a thorough and straightforward analysis of western water use and the outmoded rules that govern it. The authors begin by tracing the history and evolution of the uses of western water. They describe the demographic and economic changes now occurring in the region, and identify the many communities of interest involved in all water-use issues. After an examination of the central precepts of current water policy, along with their original rationale and subsequent evolution, they consider the reform movement that has recently begun to emerge. In the end, the authors articulate the foundations for a water policy that can meet the needs of the new West and discuss the various means for effectively implementing such a policy, including market economics, regulation, the broad-based use of scientific knowledge, and open and full public participation.

Author Biography

Sarah F. Bates is assistant director of the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado School of Law.

Table of Contents

Preface
The West's Gordian Knot	p. 3
Water in a Changing West	p. 14
Voices	p. 49
The West Today	p. 73
River Basin Stories	p. 91
Losing Sight of the Headwaters	p. 128
The Journey to Rediscovery	p. 152
Change and Rediscovery in Western Water	p. 178
Epilogue: History Need Not Repeat Itself	p. 199
Appendix: The Language of Water	p. 203
References	p. 206
Index	p. 233
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