ABSTRACT
We use the synthesis and main conclusions of the case studies discussed in this book to highlight their relevance to drinking water supply issues from forested surface watersheds of the New England and New York City area to other regions of the world. We lay out a framework under which lessons learned might help to inform management decisions elsewhere. The northeastern United States is an appropriate region upon which to base our analysis because of its long history of industrialization and urbanization. This region has been witness to countless development pressures that have made it a center for novel thinking and management around surface drinking water. It remains a core region in the United States that still maintains and supplies some of the cleanest surface drinking water within the country, even given its long history of development. In this chapter we first use three lenses of analysis, (1) biophysical factors; (2) forest history, land use, and infrastructure development; and (3) human institutions, that is, legal, social, governmental, and regulatory environments, to discuss the watershed issues as applied to the northeastern United States. We then demonstrate how watershed managers elsewhere might structure an analysis of their own system. No region will be the same as another, but based on a comparative analysis, the solutions highlighted in the case studies can be used to guide improved watershed systems management in other regions of the world. With the three lenses as an analytical framework, we group regions of the world and discuss how to structure a comparison with New England and New York City that will highlight the most effective areas for immediate action. We use these lenses to articulate what needs to be known about a watershed before a manager begins to balance the green and gray components of infrastructure to deliver the highest quality drinking water possible.
