ABSTRACT
Allocating the water from rivers entails choices that cart affect hydroelectric power; commercial and recreational fishing, agricultural irrigation, transportation, and recreational uses and other resource decisions. The author analyzes the conflicts that have arisen over some of these alternative uses in the Columbia-Snake River system. An economic analysis of water allocation institutions that incorporates the concept of efficiency is applied to centralized and decentralized management systems. The chapter provides a framework for analyzing institutional alternatives for managing a complex natural resource with multiple, often conflicting, user groups.
