New Federalism and Social and Environmental Goals

The basic shift in intergovernmental relationships that has occurred since 1975 has important implications for the achievement of social and environmental goals that guide the management of water resources. These changes, primarily in financial responsibilities, have both positive and negative effects. They will tend to enhance the economic efficiency of water projects, and those projects will be more consistent with the benefit principle of financial equity. On the negative side, the new arrangements provide less opportunity to revitalize economically depressed regions and to extend services to the urban poor. Evidence suggests that economic development tends to dominate environmental quality objectives under the more decentralized relationships. Also, rational‐analytic methods are less likely to be used as the basis for decisions, and the declining federal presence has important implications for the funding of water resources research.