ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief synopsis of key aspects of water management within the United States (U.S.) and the most common sources for conflict. The discussion conceptualizes pathways within the watershed approach that could potentially help modernize and coordinate water management in the U.S. by simultaneously blending ecological, planning, and policy goals for sustainable flows, equitable distribution, and improved water quality over the coming century.
By adapting water management to a region and the individual scale of a particular watershed, cohesive and cooperative processes and instruments can decrease the wasteful use of water across sectors (agriculture, residential and urban, power generation, and water infrastructure itself). The reduction and prevention of wasteful use, stemming from former practices and technology, paired with active conservation goals and techniques, are the first steps in stabilizing supply. Integrating the steps toward watershed goals can then multiply co-benefits. Increased efficiency of resource use, in tandem with improved social, economic, and ecological outcomes, makes planning and delivery systems more adaptive and resilient to disruption within areas of drought and flooding caused by more frequent and severe climate events.
Continual improvement of the watershed approach through adaptation must ultimately include proven tools for the early detection, intervention, reduction, and ultimate prevention of water conflicts within the management across watersheds and their boundaries. Such a holistic approach can begin to stabilizing water quality, availability, safety, and equity within communities and sectors, as well as within and across local, state, regional, and national borders.
