A Twenty-First Century U.S. Water Policy

by Christian-Smith, Juliet; Gleick, Peter H.; Cooley, Heather; Allen, Lucy; Vanderwarker, Amy; Berry, Kate A.; Reilly, William K.

• ISBN13: 9780199859443
• ISBN10: 0199859442
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-07-31
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

As is becoming clearer and clearer, pressures on water resources in the United States are growing, with no foreseeable end in sight. Yet these pressures are not due to a national water scarcity. While the Southwest faces the problems of draught, a rising population, and over-allocation of resources, the Northeast and Northern Plains must deal with increasingly wet weather and flooding. The greatest challenges that the United States faces with regard to water are regional disparities in availability, a changing climate, worsening water quality, and, increasingly, controversies over management strategies and policies. While many countries have adopted federal approaches to water management, the United States has no cohesive national water policy. In fact, the oversight of current water policy is shared by over sixty different agencies,and the last national water assessment undertaken in the United States occurred over forty years ago. The lack of coordinated oversight not only renders national policymakers unable to make informed analyses of water quality standards and availability, it also results in large gaps of understanding regarding variability of water resources and how to most efficiently and effectively manage and preserve those resources.A Twenty-First Century U.S. Water Policyculls together independent analysis of freshwater availability; water usage in agriculture, municipalities, tribal settlements, and energy production; exisiting legal frameworks; environmental justice movements; and data on water quality and climate change. The result is a visionary proposal for a coherent and critically needed federal water policy.

Author Biography

Juliet Christian-Smith is Senior Research Associate of the Water Program at the Pacific Institute.

Peter H. Gleick is Co-founder and President of the Pacific Institute.

Heather Cooley is Co-director of the Water Program at the Pacific Institute.

Lucy Allen is a former Research Associate with the Water Program at the Pacific Institute and current law student at the University of California, Berkeley.

Amy Vanderwarker is Co-coordinator of the California Environmental Justice Alliance.

Kate A. Berry is Professor of Geography and Director of the Core Curriculum at the
University of Nevada, Reno.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xi
List of Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction: The Soft Path for Water	p. xv
The Water of the United States: Freshwater Availability and Use	p. 3
Legal and Institutional Framework of Water Management	p. 23
Water and Environmental Justice	p. 52
Tribes and Water	p. 90
Water Quality	p. 109
Protecting Freshwater Ecosystems	p. 142
Municipal Water Use	p. 167
Water and Agriculture	p. 195
Water and Energy	p. 221
Water and Climate	p. 244
United States International Water Policy	p. 263
Conclusions and Recommendations	p. 288
Appendix: Key Pieces of Federal Legislation	p. 305
Notes	p. 313
About the Authors	p. 317
Index	p. 319
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