35 Years of Water Policy: The 1973 National Water Commission and Present Challenges

Betsy A. Cody and Nicole T. Carter of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress just sent me their recent report titled the same as this post.

Download R40573 Final CRS NWC Report

Here is what Betsy said in her email:

It's primarily a retrospective look at the recommendations of the 1973 National Water Commission and efforts to implement those recommendations.  Basically, it provides a brief history of attempts to coordinate water policy and change certain policies since 1973, as well as an overview of what's been tried and why developing a lasting national policy is so difficult. 

This paragraph from the Summary caught my eye:

 

While many support better coordination of federal water activities and a "clearer" national vision for water management, Congress has not enacted overarching water policy legislation since the 1965 Water Resources Planning Act. Instead, water policy has largely evolved through executive and judicial actions, in many cases in response to piecemeal legislation.  Congress continually modifies federal water projects through amendments to existing projects and programs through Water Resources Development Acts (WRDAs), Reclamation acts, water quality legislation and appropriations decisions. Incremental and ad hoc evolution of water policy, however, is not surprising. Water management is complicated by past decsions and investments affecting a wide range of stakeholders pursuing different goals. Specifically, federal and state laws and regulations, local ordinances, tribal treaties, contractual obligations, and economies dependent on existing water use patterns and infrastructure all affect water management. Attempts to untangle such complexities involve many constituencies with differing interests, and success is difficult to acheive. Expectations for a commission to achieve change in a complex system resistant to transformation may be unreasonable; instead, the influences of a commission may lie in how its recommendations combine with other drivers to support policy evolution.

 

 

Betsy and Nicole have done us a real service. In the wake of the euphoria generated by last week's National Water Policy Event, it would be wise to read their report and reflect on what has happened, or not happened, since the NWC report.

I don't want to be writing (or whatever) this same post 35 years from now.

"We learn nothing from history except that we learn nothing from history." -- Cicero

Comments

[Account Deleted]

I don't want to be writing (or whatever) this same post 35 WEEKS! from now.