Reform Watershed and Water Resource Management

Watersheds rarely coincide with jurisdictional boundaries. And water management laws and institutions frequently are limited to specific and narrow objectives — such as allocation of water supplies, construction of infrastructure, concern for endangered species, or administration of specific regulatory mandate, without enough attention to the links among these objectives.

The Environmental Law Institute’s focus on Watershed and Water Resources Management recognizes that institutional frameworks matter profoundly. Government regulations, expenditures, and incentives affect land use and watershed choices. We develop and apply approaches based on experience to assist People working in large watershed efforts (such as the Puget Sound or the Chesapeake Bay), and we promote the integration of programs providing for drinking water and human use of water with management for other resource objectives such as biological health, fisheries, and flow. Monitoring, use of environmental indicators for management of water resources, and use of biological measures of aquatic health are key areas of our research.