At a time when many countries are adopting new national approaches to water management, the United States still has no cohesive federal policy and the nation’s water-related authorities are dispersed among more than 30 agencies. Here, at last, is a vision for what we as a nation need to do to manage our most vital resource.
In this book leading thinkers at the Pacific Institute, offer clear and readable analysis and recommendations for a new federal water policy to confront our national and global challenges. The authors critically examine the human and environmental impacts of the nation’s often out-dated water laws, the lack of strong enforcement, the fragmented federal programs, and out-of-date information on water supply, demand, and flows.
Clean water is not just a requisite for health, but essential for a prosperous economy, for growing food, for recreation, and for maintaining productive, functioning forests, lakes, rivers, wildlife, and other resources on which all human activity depends.
"We are overdue for a wide-ranging national debate over use and conservation of our dwindling water resources. This book frames the issues and makes insightful and innovative suggestions for the directions we should take." Bruce Babbitt, former United States Secretary of the Interior
Table of Contents
1. The Water of the United States: Freshwater Availability and Use
2. Legal and Institutional Framework of Water Management
3. Water and Environmental Justice
4. Tribes and Water
5. Water Quality
6. Protecting Freshwater Ecosystems
7. Municipal Water Use
8. Water and Agriculture
9. Water and Energy
10. Water and Climate
11. United States International Water Policy
12. Conclusions and Recommendations