New Strategies for America's Watersheds (1999) / Chapter Skim
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6 Organizing for Watershed Management
6 Organizing for Watershed Management
Pages 164-206
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From page 164... ...
This chapter explores the structure and responsibilities of institutions and organizations seeking insight about organizational approaches to help integrate ecologic, economic, and social aspects of watershed management. The current structure of federal involvement in water management traces its origins to the early 1 800s, when the federal government became involved in navigation projects (Kenney and Rieke, 1997~.
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From page 165... ...
Today we are in a much different economic situation and have different priorities for our water resources. Now, virtually all of the desirable dam sites have been developed, and flood control and navigation works exist on river systems throughout the country.
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From page 166... ...
THE AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONAL LANDSCAPE Any effort to coordinate programs in support of effective watershed management must contend with the reality that formal authorities for regulating, taxing, and spending for land and water use are diffused throughout the levels of government, and the patterns of organizational responsibility vary greatly. At the local level, primary responsibility for water often resides in a department of public works, which typically operates the drinking water system, sewer system, and wastewater treatment plant.
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From page 167... ...
Illinois gives water allocation authority to its Department of Transportation, Florida to Water Management Districts, and Arkansas to its Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The federal level offers similar organizational diversity)
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From page 168... ...
Army Corps of Engineers Department of Energy Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Bureau of Reclamation Fish and Wildlife Service Geologic Survey National Park Service Bureau of Indian Affairs Department of State International Boundary Commission Other Federal Units Environmental Protection Agency Tennessee Valley Authority Bonneville Power Administration Federal Emergency Management Agency -O o o o o o O .
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From page 169... ...
5901 the FSA administers programs to control erosion and sedimentation related to agricultural practices, develops programs to solve nonpoint and point source pollution, and conducts various other water quality improvement programs. The Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act [16 U.S.C.
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From page 170... ...
, formerly the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) , participates in cooperative resource management programs to develop and conserve soil and water resources.
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From page 171... ...
Authorized purposes for these NRCS-assisted watershed projects are watershed protection, flood prevention, agricultural water management, water based recreation, fish and wildlife habitat improvement, ground water recharge, water quality management, and municipal and industrial water supply. Program objectives have changed over time in response to legislative direction, environmental concerns, and changing social values.
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From page 172... ...
and (2) of the ESA requires that all federal departments and agencies use their authority to further the purpose of the act and "shall cooperate with state and local agencies to resolve water resources issues in concert with conservation of endangered species."
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From page 173... ...
Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE) , under the Department of Defense, has wide ranging authority regarding water resources.
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From page 174... ...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also helps communities with issues related to development and management strategies for flood control, coastal and shoreline erosion, outdoor recreation, environmental restoration, and water quality control (EPA, 1993~.
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From page 175... ...
Although FERC's procedures have evolved over the past decade to give more consideration to nonpower values, it is still sometimes criticized for favoring development of water resources over protection of environmental values and for being an inefficient mechanism for resolving complex conflicts over the use of water resources, FERC is moving to consider cumulative impacts of multiple hydropower projects within watersheds, but these efforts also can be controversial both to state and private interests uneasy with such federal oversight and to environmental organizations pushing for increased resource protection. Department of the Interior The Department of the Interior has several divisions that have a variety of authorities related to water and watershed management.
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From page 176... ...
To achieve its primary objectives, BOR exercises responsibility for protecting and restoring fish and wildlife resources, including endangered species and migratory birds, where water resources have been contaminated by pollutants resulting from irrigation. State and local projects receive federal assistance from the BOR for projects related to conservation of water, energy, the environment, and water quality.
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From page 177... ...
Under its National Water Quality Assessment Program, USGS collects geological data and conducts appraisals of the nation's ground water and surface water resources. USGS publications and web sites provide consistent water quality and water quantity information for water resources decisionmaking at all levels of government.
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From page 178... ...
Working in partnership with state and local governments, NPS provides guidance and technical assistance for planning and developing trails and river access and preserving the quality of the land and water resources (EPA, 1993~. Bureau of Indian Affairs Established in 1824 in the War Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
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From page 179... ...
Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created in 1933 as an independent federal agency to "improve the navigability and provide for the flood control of the Tennessee River; to provide for the reforestation and the proper use of marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley; to provide for the agricultural and industrial development of said valley; to provide for the national defense by the creation of a corporation for the operation of Government properties at and near Muscle Shoals in the State of Alabama" (Viessman and Welty, 1985~.
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From page 180... ...
and a population of 10.1 million people (BPA, 1997~. The BPA power system has produced significant benefits for the region, but these have come at a substantial cost to the fish and wildlife resources of the Columbia River basin.
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From page 181... ...
ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT: THE SEARCH FOR COORDINATION The many agencies described in the previous section, along with hundreds of additional state and local agencies, as well as some transnational organizations, pose some important challenges to any attempt at integrated decisionmaking on watershed issues. Throughout the 20th century, water managers emphasized the need to control the timing and variability of river flows and overbank in order to advance the nation's material prosperity, and this emphasis drove the development of an increasingly complex administrative landscape.
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From page 182... ...
, these relatively informal committees were ineffective. Seven river basin commissions were formed in the late 1960s and early 1970s pursuant to Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act of 1965: New England, Ohio, Upper Mississippi, Souris-Red-Rainey, Missouri, Pacific Northwest, and Great Lakes.
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From page 183... ...
Others have reached similar conclusions about the commissions and their parent organization, the United States Water Resources Council (Eisel and Aiken, 1997~. However, an unwillingness to share power is only one source of the demise of the river basin commission concept.
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From page 184... ...
As the nation's attention shifted away from water development and toward regulating water quality improvement, the mission and the membership of the Water Resources Council and the river basin commissions no longer served the role for which they were created. While this is understandable given the climate of the times, lost with the Water Resources Council was the last significant attempt to coordinate across federal agencies and political boundaries.
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From page 185... ...
These agencies have a major financial impact on water resource activities in the United States and exercise significant control over how water is used for municipal water supply, irrigation, flood control, hydropower, recreation, and in-stream flow needs. USACE, BOR, and TVA project operations have had to serve new environmental restoration purposes in recent years.
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From page 186... ...
Watershed management became synonymous for some with democratization of decisionmaking. Goals are set by "the people" and alternatives to achieve the goals are also selected in democratic process, informed by expert analysis.
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From page 187... ...
TVA, even as a federal agency, has had to rely on the powers and persuasion of local entities and the states to accomplish its water quality goals. Intrastate Watershed Management Initiatives Arrangements among management agencies vary greatly among states and regions.
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From page 188... ...
permits is taking a watershed approach, because that approach focuses on the quality of the receiving waters and quality is a function of all the land uses and discharges into the river upstream. Watershed-based water quality management provides a mechanism for pollution permit trading which recognizes that it may be more cost-effective to control agricultural nonpoint pollution than to control urban runoff pollution.
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From page 189... ...
These NRDs are organized around river basin boundaries and deal with a wide variety of natural resource programs including water quality, water supply, flood control, soil conservation, habitat protection, and outdoor recreation. A property tax of 4.5 cents per $100 valuation funds the NRDs, which can also levy additional amounts for specific purposes.
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From page 190... ...
The Florida Water Resources Management Act of 1972 provided for the management of any and all water (surface and ground) and related land uses in five water management districts (WMDs)
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From page 191... ...
Their goal is to improve the water quality of the Blue Earth River Basin through planning, coordination, and implementation of conservation practices and to share the water quality improvement strategies with others. Two committees make up the BERBI organization.
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From page 192... ...
Between 1989 and 1992, it became apparent to citizens in the BSALW that the water resources required active management. In July 1993, citizen volunteers formed a partnership with employees of local, state, and federal governments to form a watershed management partnership that is citizen-driven, locally-directed, and agency-supported.
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From page 193... ...
In 1978, the U.S. and Canada reviewed their Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and expanded it to address toxic contaminants in the lakes through a watershed approach.
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From page 194... ...
is marked by rivers, the role in river management has become important. The international nature of the setting complicates watershed management in such areas, whether dealing with water quality or quantity.
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From page 195... ...
The Bureau of Reclamation manages the river primarily for hydroelectric power, irrigation, flood control, recreation, and navigation. A series of dams has been built, beginning with Hoover Dam in 1936 and continuing with Glen Canyon Dam in 1964, along with other structures on principal tributaries such as the Green River in Wyoming, the Gunnison in Colorado, and the San Juan in New Mexico.
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From page 196... ...
that are large with respect to most of the nation's river basins, and both nations tend to emphasize water and watershed management at the state or provincial level rather than the federal level. Two legislative changes in the state of South Australia are of interest: the Catchment Water Management Act of 1995 and the Water Resources Act of 1997.
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From page 197... ...
The management plans emphasize the integration of ecological, environmental, and economic considerations on a geographic basis (BC Tonkin & Associates, 1996; Torrens Catchment Water Management Board, 1997~. In Australia, larger projects such as the restoration of the River Murray require management by state officials (State of South Australia, 1995~.
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From page 198... ...
The passage of the 1991 Resource Management Act (RMA) brought further changes to watershed management issues in New Zealand.
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From page 199... ...
ORGANIZING FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT 199 ment of natural resources and environments (Furuseth and Cocklin, 1995~. Two principles govern the RMA: sustainable management is the overall objective, and the mechanism for decisionmaking is to move from the central government to the regional and local levels.
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From page 200... ...
Great Britain also has reorganized its regional approach to water and watershed management. In recent decades the nation has managed these resources through River Authorities, agencies with management responsibility for individual drainage basins ranging in size up to several hundred square miles, with jurisdiction defined by watershed boundaries.
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From page 201... ...
, several hundred watershed management programs are underway in California. In 1996, a new watershed initiative began to integrate water quality monitoring, assessment, planning, standard setting, permit writing, nonpoint source management, groundwater protection, and other staff work.
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From page 202... ...
Larger River Basins, Greater than 25,000 km2 (10,000 mi2) Establish overall regulatory thresholds Reservoir system management Management issue and needs analysis Goal, objective, and policy development Hydrologic modeling for water quality Management, water quality, point source Public education Flood-plain management Management, water quality, nonpoint source Participatory planning Stream bank stabilization Wetland management Lake management Surface water recreation management Fisheries management Rare and endangered species management Land use planning and zoning Construction site erosion control Drainage ditch management Greenbelt development and management Irrigation management Local flood-control works Shoreline erosion control
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From page 203... ...
Such research can help build our understanding of current social values and how these values can be integrated into management strategies. CONCLUSION Documentary histories, field visits, workshops, and the experiences of individual committee members lead us to several conclusions about organization for watershed management.
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From page 204... ...
Watershed management through newly defined organizations will not succeed unless there is a transfer of powers from these established agencies, often an unlikely scenario. Therefore, watershed management in the United States is often best accomplished through partnerships of existing agencies that work together in ad hoc arrangements for particular watersheds.
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From page 205... ...
1996. Patawalonga Catchment Water Management Board Comprehensive Catchment Water Management Plan: Draft for Consultation.
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From page 206... ...
Adelaide, South Australia: Torrens Catchment Water Management Board.
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