ESP 169: Water Policy and Politics
Spring 2008
Professor Mark Lubell
Email: mnlubell@ucdavis.edu
Webpage: http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/lubell/
Office Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 1-3pm; 2146 Wickson or by appointment
Time: Tuesday/Thursday, 10:30-11:50
Lecture Location: PHYGEO 148
Water is a necessary—but scarce—resource. It is not always available when and where people demand it, people do many things to degrade water quality, and people sometimes fight over it. Therefore, water requires the creation of government institutions that establish rules for using water and decision-making procedures for changing those rules. This class examines the policy and politics of water, including issues of water pollution/quality and water supply. We will focus mainly on the rules governing how water is used, the politics of water decision-making, and whether or not the rules are effective at providing adequate amounts of clean water for human consumption and ecosystem maintenance. While the broad focus is on US Federal water policy, we will also use case studies from California and other US watersheds. We will also take a brief excursion (time permitting) into international aspects of water policy, including water conflict and water supply issues in developing countries. Students should leave the class with a broad understanding of water policy in the United States, and enough information to pursue more specific details and research projects in the course of their academic or professional careers.
Course grading consists of three elements, which is scored on a 200-point scale: mid-term examination (25%, or 50pts), final examination (25%, 50pts), watershed scoping project (40%, or 80pts), and class participation (10%, or 20pts). The mid-term and final will focus on concepts presented in lecture, and will be a combination of short answer and multiple choice. The watershed scoping (click here to see guidelines) is a watershed management exercise focusing on a specific watershed in California; more guidance and training for the paper will be provided in class. Class participation requires attendance of lectures and especially active participation in class discussion, including bringing in ideas from the readings. The exam times and paper due dates are as follows:
Midterm Examination: Tuesday, April 29
Final Examination: Saturday, Jun 7, 3:30-5:30pm (Exam Code “D”; location is same room)
Watershed Summary Due: Thursday, May 8 (click here to see guidelines)
Watershed Scoping Project Due: Thursday, May 22
Team Presentations: Tuesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 5
Cheating and Late Work Policies
If you are caught cheating on an examination, you will receive a zero for that exam. Given the fact that the exams are at least 25% of your grade, a zero on one exam almost guarantees you a D or F in the class unless you are perfect on the other materials. Do not plagiarize research materials for your papers. There should be no quotes without citations, and all references should be given credit. This includes Internet materials. Plagiarized papers will also receive a zero. If any cheating is egregious enough, I will report the offender to the appropriate campus authorities for disciplinary action. Lesson: Don’t cheat.
Late papers or missed exams will only be allowed with a written documentation of a medical or some other personal emergency. Otherwise, there will be no making up exams. If you turn in the paper late without an excuse, you will lose one letter grade for each day it is late.
Wilkinson, Charles. 1993. Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West. Covelo, CA: Island Press (ISBN: 155963149X)
Hundley, Norris. 2001. The Great Thirst: Californians and Water-A History (Revised Edition). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (ISBN: 0520224566).
California Water News Listserver: http://listhost1.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news
Additional required online readings listed for each week.
Introduction
Tuesday 4/1: Introduction
Watershed Academy Exercise
Jonathan P. Deason, Theodore M. Schad and George William Sherk. 2001. “Water Policy in the United States: A Perspective.” Water Policy 3: 175-192
Gerlak, Andrea K. 2006. “Federalism and US Water Policy: Lessons for the 21st Century.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism
Gleick, Peter H. "Water Use." Annual Review of Environment and Resources 28, no. 1 (2003): 275-314.
Political Economics of Water
Thursday, 4/3: Externalities, Common Pool Resources
Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162: 1243-1248. (JSTOR)
Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Chapter 4 from Governing the Commons (Handout from professor)
Assignment of watershed teams
Tuesday, 4/8: Games Water Users Play
Ostrom, Elinor, and Roy Gardner. 1993. “Coping with Asymmetries in the Commons: Self-Governing Irrigation Systems Can Work.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 7 (4): 93-112. (JSTOR)
Water Quality and Drinking Water
Thursday, 4/10: Clean Water Act Overview
Congressional Research Service Report, “Implementing the Clean Water Act.”
Knopman, Debra S. and Richard A. Smith. "20 Years of the Clean Water Act, Has U.S. Water Quality Improved?" Environment. v. 31, no. 1, January/February 1993. pp. 16-20, 34-41.
Tuesday, 4/15: Drinking Water
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwa/electronic/ematerials.html#sdwa
Thursday 4/17: Conceptual Model Training
Fraser Shilling, Trainer
Chapter 2, California Watershed Assessment Manual (http://www.cwam.ucdavis.edu/Volume_2/CWAM_II_1_Indicators.doc)
Conceptual Ecological Models in the Everglades (http://www.bioone.org/archive/0277-5212/25/4/pdf/i0277-5212-25-4-795.pdf)
Heemskerk, M., K Wilson and M Pavao-Zuckerman. 2003. “Conceptual models as tools for communication across disciplines”. Conservation Ecology 7(3)
Tuesday 4/22: Wetlands
Thursday 4/24: Water Rights and Water Supply Organizations
Hundley, Chapters 3, 4
CA Water Rights Summary:
http://www.norcalwater.org/pdf/D121205pmbWaterRightsSummary.pdf
Tuesday 4/29: Midterm Exam!!!
Thursday 5/1: California Water Overview
Hundley, Chapters 5,6,7
California Water Plan: Overview of California Water Management
http://www.waterplan.water.ca.gov/docs/cwpu2005/Vol_4/01-Background/V4PRD6-waterallocation.pdf
Tuesday 5/6: Guest Lecture on Marine Protected Areas, Professor Jim Sanchirico
Thursday 5/8: Colorado River
Wilkinson, Chapter 1, 6
Hundley 5,6,7 (information on Colorado River interspersed)
Marston, Ed. “Quenching the Big Thirst” High Country News http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=10516
WATERSHED SUMMARY DUE THURSDAY 5/8
Tuesday 5/13: Policy Overview
Richter, Brian D.; David P. Braun; Michael A. Mendelson; Lawrence L. Master. 1997. “Threats to Imperiled Freshwater Fauna.” Conservation Biology 11 (5): 1081-1093.(JSTOR)
Myers and Worm. 2002. Rapid Worldwide Depletion of Predatory Fish Communities. Nature
Thursday 5/15: Salmon, Steelhead, and Western Rivers
Wilkinson, Chapter 5
The Columbia River System Inside Story
http://www.bpa.gov/power/pg/columbia_river_inside_story.pdf
Water and Ecosystem Management
Tuesday 5/20: Politics of Ecosystem Management
Heikkila, Tanya, and Andrea Gerlak. 2005. “The Formation of Large-Scale Collaborative Resource Management Instituions: Clarifying the Roles Stakeholders, Science, and Institutions.” Policy Studies Journal 33(4)
Thursday 5/22: Chesapeake Bay and Everglades Case Studies
Congressional Research Service, “South Florida Ecosystem Restoration and CERP”
http://www.cnie.org/nle/crsreports/biodiversity/biodv-38.pdf
Chesapeake Bay Program
WATERSHED SCOPING DUE 5/22!!!
Tuesday 5/27: Water Development and Conflict
Gleick, Peter H. 2003. Global Freshwater Resources: Soft-Path Solutions for the Twenty First Century. Science 302: 1524-1528.
Wolf, Aaron T. 1998. "Conflict and Cooperation along International Waterways." Water Policy (1) 2: 251-265. PDF (490 K)
Gerlak, Andrea. 2004. “The Global Environment Facility and Transboundary Water Resource Management: New Institutional Arrangements in the Danube River and Black Sea Region.” Journal of Environmental and Development
Thursday 5/29: Overflow Day
Tuesday 6/3: Team Presentations of Watershed Scoping
Thursday 6/5: Team Presentations of Watershed Scoping
Final Examination: Saturday, June 7. 3:30-5pm.
Recommended Additional Readings
Political Economics of Water
Heikkila, Tanya. 2004. “Institutional Boundaries and Common-Pool Resource Management: A Comparative Analysis of Water Management Programs in California”.
Tang, SY. 1991. “Institutional Arrangements and the Management of Common Pool Resources.” Public Administration Review.
Ostrom, Elinor; James Walker; Roy Gardner. 1992. “Covenants With and Without a Sword: Self-Governance is Possible.” The American Political Science Review 86(2): 404-417. (JSTOR)
Water Quality
Congressional Research Service Report, “Clean Water Act and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)of Pollutants.”
Congressional Research Service Report "The Clean Water Act: A Summary"
Andreen, William L. “The Evolution of Water Pollution Control in the United States—State Local and Federal Efforts 1789-1972: Part I.” Stanford Environmental Law Journal 22: 145-?
http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/index.html
Wetlands
GAO Report: Wetlands Overview: Problems With Acreage Data Persist TEXT , PDF , SUMMARY
CRS Report: The Supreme Court Addresses Corps of Engineers Jurisdiction Over "Isolated Waters": The SWANCC Decision (http://www.ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/risk/rsk-56.cfm?&CFID=5048247&CFTOKEN=34032911)
Water Rights and Water Supply Organizations
Kanazawa, Mark T. 1998. “Efficiency in Western Water Law: The Development of the California Doctrine, 1850-1911.” The Journal of Legal Studies 27: 159-?
Blumm, Michael C., and Thea Schwartz. 1995. “Mono Lake and the Evolving Public Trust Doctrine in Western Water.” Arizona Law Review 37: 701-?
Overview of California Water Law
http://ceres.ca.gov/theme/env_law/water_law/ (this link may be broken)
Overview of California Water Rights Process
http://www.waterrights.ca.gov/html/wr_process.htm
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Imperial Irrigation District
California Association of Water Agencies: Overview of Water Districts
http://www.acwanet.com/mediazone/waterfacts/view.asp?ID=51
NRLC Groundwater Law Sourcebook (Very good!)
http://www.colorado.edu/Law/centers/nrlc/publications/Groundwater%20Law%20Sourcebook.pdf
California/Western Water History
Copyright (c) 2000 Hastings College of the Law Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, Winter / Spring, 2000, 6 Hastings W.-N.W. J. Env. L. & Pol'y 117, 29973 words, ARTICLE: Who Controls the Waters? Incorporating Environmental and Social Values in Water Resources Planning, By James P. Morris *
Copyright (c) 2001 Golden Gate University Golden Gate University, Spring, 2001, 31 Golden Gate U.L. Rev. 331, 7252 words, ARTICLE: FIXING THE DELTA: THE CALFED BAY-DELTA PROGRAM AND WATER POLICY UNDER THE DAVIS ADMINISTRATION, By Patrick Wright*
California Department of Water Resources (State Water Project)
US Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region (Central Valley Project)
California State Water Plan 1998: Institutional Framework for Allocating and Managing Water Resources in California
http://rubicon.water.ca.gov/pdfs/v1/v1ap2a.pdf
California Water Controversies
Water Heist: How Corporations are Cashin In on California's Water http://www.citizen.org/california/water/heist/
GAO REPORT: Water Subsidies: Impact of Higher Irrigation Rates on Central Valley Project Farmers TEXT
Water Transfer Office, Department of Water Resources “Where is California Taking Water Transfers?” http://www.watertransfers.water.ca.gov/docs/JohnsEditorialJWRPM-Vol-129-No-1Final.pdf
GAO REPORT: Bureau of Reclamation: Water Marketing Activities and Costs at the Central Valley Project. TEXT , PDF SUMMARY ‘
California’s Water Balancing Act Part 2: Delta Blues
by Susan Zakin, High
Country News http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=13399
Colorado River
Copyright (c) 2000 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Stanford Environmental Law Journal, January, 2000, 19 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 121, 47899 words, ARTICLE: Undamming Glen Canyon: Lunacy, Rationality, or Prophecy?, Scott K. Miller *
Colorado Water Law Overview
http://www.dividingthewaters.org/news/docs/co_waterlaw_overview.pdf
Jenkins, Matt. “California’s Water Balancing Act Part 1: The Royal Squeeze.” High Country News. http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=13367
Anadramous Fish
Allendorf, Fred, and others. 1997. “Prioritizing Pacific Salmon Stocks for Conservation.” Conservation Biology 11(1): 140-152.(JSTOR)
Black, Michael. 1994. “Recounting a Century of Failed Fishery Policy Toward California's Sacramento River Salmon and Steelhead (in Special Section: Endangered Pacific Salmonids).” Conservation Biology 8 (3): 892-894.(JSTOR)
Moyle, Peter B.; Jack E. Williams. “Biodiversity Loss in the Temperate Zone: Decline of the Native Fish Fauna of California.” Conservation Biology 4 (3): 275-284.(JSTOR)
Earthjustice Materials on Conservation of Northwest Salmon (good analysis of Alsea decision on hatcheries and ESU)
http://www.earthjustice.org/backgrounder/display.html?ID=28
Ecosystem Management
Grumbine, R. Edward. 1994. “What Is Ecosystem Management?” Conservation Biology 8(1): 27-38.
Policansky, David. 1998. “Science and Decision Making for Water Resources (in Invited Feature: Freshwater Systems)” Ecological Applications 8(3): 610-618.
Copyright (c) 2000 Virginia Environmental Law Journal Association Virginia Environmental Law Journal, 2000, 19 Va. Envtl. L.J. 121, 20485 words, ARTICLE: PROTECTING AND PRESERVING OUR NATIONAL PARKS: THE EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK RESTORATION PROJECT, Richard J. Ansson, Jr.*
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
http://www.evergladesplan.org/
International Water Issues
United Nations Environment Programme, World Water Day 2003
Huisman, Pieter, Joost de Jong and Koos Wieriks. 2000. “Transboundary Cooperation In Shared River Basins: Experiences From The Rhine, Meuse And North Sea.” Water Policy 2(1-2): 83-97. PDF (638 K)
Gleick, Peter H. 1988. Water in Crisis: Paths to Sustainable Water Use (in Invited Feature: Freshwater Systems) Ecological Applications, Vol. 8, No. 3. (Aug., 1998), pp. 571-579.
Gleick, Peter H. 1993. Water and Conflict: Fresh Water Resources and International Security (in Will Blood Flow for H20?) International Security, Vol. 18, No. 1. (Summer, 1993), pp. 79-112.
Gleick, Peter H. "Global Freshwater Resources: Soft-Path Solutions for the 21st Century." Science 302, no. 5650 (2003): 1524-28.
Mahmoud A. Abu-Zeid. 1998. “Water And Sustainable Development: The Vision For World Water, Life And The Environment.” Water Policy 1(1): 9-19. (available from instructor)