Citation:
Water Crisis: Ending the Policy Drought, Terry L. Anderson, (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 121pp
Water Crisis: Ending the Policy Drought will be of interest to those who seek an understanding of the imminent water crisis. Chapter one is an examination of this crisis and focuses upon consumptive and industrial uses of water and questions whether a market approach might be preferable to the present system. Chapter two offers a new resource economics which provides an analytical framework. This chapter begins with a critique of the traditional approach and a detailed presentation of the author's new approach.
Chapter three examines the evolution of water institutions. Toward this end the author considers riparian rights and prior appropriation, and private water development (particularly in western states. Chapter four ponders the question: What went wrong with the management of water? The author considers limits on the doctrine of appropriations, and the reclamation of the West with public funds. Chapter five offers a proposal for salvaging the appropriations doctrine.
Chapter six examines the possibility of privatizing in-stream flows. The author presents the public good argument, public and private alternatives for in-stream flows, examples of markets, the evolution of groundwater rights, and the possibility of privatizing groundwater basins. The eighth and final chapter is a consideration of the potential for conflict or coöperation in future water policy. The author considers federal water programs and the possibility that States might do better. The chapter closes with the enumeration of regional coalitions concerned with water use issues.
Water Crisis: Ending the Policy Drought will serve as a basic foundation for understanding water resource issues. The text is nicely supplemented by figures and tables.