Full Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, Issue ...

10Cardwell. Cole, Cartwright, and MartinNational Environmental Policy Act. Together withNEPA, they provide the U. S. Federal governmentwith a planning framework and enforceablestandards for protecting environment quality andauthority for restoring degraded environmentalquality. Arguably most important of many thatinfluence water resources management are theClean Water Act (which required restoration ofthe physical, biological, and chemical integrityof national waters), the Endangered Species Act(which directs the protection and recovery ofspecies at risk of extinction to a viable, sustainablestate), and various water resource development actsthat prescribe management actions for the nation’swaterways, including restoration of ecosystems inorder to recover damaged environmental quality toa more sustainable condition.At the direction of the 1965 Water ResourcesPlanning Act, a Water Resources Council wascreated to coordinate overarching federal poli-cy. Before it was disbanded in 1983, it wrote thePrinciples and Guidelines for Water and RelatedLand-Resources Management (U.S. Water Re-sources Council 1983), which set forth the federalobjective for water resources project planning. Theobjective incorporated the NEPA principle and thestandards set by other environmental laws to assureenvironmental protection at projects. It di-rected federal water resources investment projectsto “contribute to national economic development(NED) consistent with protecting the Nation’senvironment, pursuant to national environmentalstatutes…” Consideration of environmental qual-ity (EQ), regional economic development (RED),and other social effects is also explicitly allowedthrough additional “accounts.”Meanwhile, an important concept was evolvingprimarily in the international arena of the UnitedNations. With the establishment of the WorldCommission on Environment and Development,also known as the Brundtland Commission, bythe U.N. and the publication of its report entitled“Our Common Future” (World Commission onEnvironment and Development 1987), the termssustainable development and sustainability becamemuch more commonly a part of natural resourceand environmental management vocabulary andthinking. The Commission defined sustainabledevelopment as development “..to meet the needsof the present generation without compromisingthe ability of future generations to meet their ownneeds.” The World Bank incorporated this conceptof sustainable development into its policies anddefined its relationship to concepts of economic,environmental, and social sustainability (Goodlandand Daly 1996). In 1993 the President’s Councilon Sustainable Development (PCSD) was tasked“to develop bold, new approaches to integrateeconomic, environmental and equity issues” andhighlighted sustainable development as a nationalgoal for resource management in its 1996 report(President’s Council on Sustainable Development1996).Within this context of national policydevelopment, evolution of policies and goalswithin the water resource management agenciesis illustrated by the policies of the largest waterresources management program, the Civil WorksProgram of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers(Loucks 2003). The goals of the Civil WorksProgram are presented in various documentsincluding the Civil Works Strategic Plan, PolicyGuidance Letter 61, the Environmental OperatingPrinciples, and its Engineering Regulation 1105-2-100 - the implementing guidance for the Principlesand Guidelines and for ecosystem restorationplanning (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2000).Policy Guidance Letter 61 (PGL 61, U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers 1999) presents policy forapplying a watershed perspective to Corps’ waterresources management, including a goal to guideapplication. Although PGL 61 does not mentionIWRM specifically, the policy for applying awatershed perspective aligns with the concept ofIWRM presented above. The goal is to assuresustainable use of water resources, taking intoaccount environmental protection, economicdevelopment, and social well-being. This goalwas derived from the President’s Council onSustainable Development and is consistent with asustainable development goal generally accepted byThe World Bank and achieved through economic,environmental, and social sustainability (Goodmanand Daly 1996).The Environmental Operating Principles (U.S.Army Corps of Engineers 2002) describe how toconduct practices within the Corps with the goalof environmental sustainability, pursued throughUCOWRJOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION