Political Dyamics of U. S. Water.

Paper Proposal Policy makers and scholars alike are directing increased attention to water policy in the U. S. Questions of commercial, agricultural, and residential supply and demand of water, property rights, and pollution require analysis and solutions. Past analyses have dealt with specific issues with varying effectiveness, but little has been done to acknowledge the fundamental complexity of water policy in the U. S. At root, there is no single water policy. Instead, there are numerous water policies organized around the problem at hand and its geographic location. Government at all levels have jurisdiction over water--sometimes inclusive, sometimes shared, frequently conflicting. Moreover, water has become a transboundary issue, as subnational governments reach across international borders to define and solve problems. Useful analyses of water policy require first an understanding of the complexity of the different political dynamics of these issues. For scholars and practitioners alike, the first step should be to acknowledge and to understand that water involves several different policy types, located in different parts of government, and that looking for a single, overarching policy or political dynamic is likely to prove frustrating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]