Searching out the headwaters : change and rediscovery in western water policy / Sarah F. Bates [and three others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bates, Sarah F., author.

Contributor:

Bates, Sarah F.

University of Colorado Boulder Natural Resources Law Center., Content Provider.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Water-supply--Government policy--West (U.S.)--Congresses.

Water-supply.

Environmental policy--West (U.S.)--Congresses.

Environmental policy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (193 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Island Press, [1993]

Language Note:

English

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 Headwaters addresses 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 currwater policy, along with their original rationale and subsequevolution, they consider the reform movemthat 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.

Contents:

Intro

About Island Press

About the Natural Resources Law Center

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter One - The West's Gordian Knot

Chapter Two - Water in a Changing West

WATER AS A SOURCE OF SUSTENANCE

WATER AS A SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL AND COMMUNITY IDENTITY

WATER AS A MEANS OF NAVIGATION

WATER AS AN INSTRUMENT OF LARGE-SCALE IRRIGATION

WATER AS AN ENGINE FOR INDUSTRY

WATER AS FUEL FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT

WATER AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE NATURAL AND HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

Chapter Three - Voices

MARY AUSTIN

WILLIAM DEBUYS AND ALEX HARRIS

STANLEY CRAWFORD

FRANK WATERS

THEODORE M. SCHAD

WOODY GUTHRIE

WILLIAM KITTREDGE

TIM PALMER

EDWARD ABBEY

WALLACE STEGNER

ALDO LEOPOLD

RICK BASS

BRUCE BROWN

JEFF RENNICKE

Chapter Four - The West Today

THE NEW WESTERNER

WATER IN TODAY'S WEST

A NEW WESTERN COMMUNITY?

Chapter Five - River Basin Stories

THE COLUMBIA: HYDRORIVER

THE RIO GRANDE: "WHERE THUNDER IS SACRED AND THE RAIN IS A GOD"

THE SACRAMENTO: RIVER OF SEASONS

THE COLORADO: A RIVER DIVIDED

THE MISSOURI: RIVER OF SACRIFICE

Chapter Six - Losing Sight of the Headwaters

THE POLICY OF FREE WATER

THE POLICY OF CAPTURE

THE POLICY OF WATER AS PROPERTY

THE LEGACY OF WESTERN WATER LAW

Chapter Seven - The Journey to Rediscovery

REDISCOVERING PUBLIC INTERESTS IN WATER

RECONSIDERING WATER PROVIDED BY FEDERAL WATER PROJECTS

ACCOMMODATING INDIAN RESERVED RIGHTS

RETHINKING THE GOVERNANCE OF WESTERN WATER

Chapter Eight - Change and Rediscovery in Western Water

THE PRINCIPLE OF CONSERVATION: WATER SHOULD BE USED WITH CARE

THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUITY: THE WHOLE COMMUNITY SHOULD BE TREATED FAIRLY

THE PRINCIPLE OF ECOLOGY: NATURE SHOULD BE RESPECTED.

A BALANCED APPROACH TO WATER USE: REALIZING THE WATER ETHIC

Epilogue - History Need Not Repeat Itself

Appendix - The Language of Water

References

Western Water Policy Working Group

Western Water Policy Workshop Participants

Discussion Papers Prepared for the Western Water Policy Project

About the Authors

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-61091-323-X

OCLC:

1244631210