Sustainability of Public Policy: Example from the Energy–Water Nexus
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 141, Issue 12
Abstract
Assessing how well public policies support and advance sustainable planning and practice is an area of increasing interest, particularly with respect to resources management. The relationship between energy and water resources, commonly known as the energy–water nexus, is one such resource management area in which policy plays a major role. To evaluate the sustainability of specific policies, three recent energy–water nexus bills from the U.S. Congress were assessed based on five sustainability considerations, as follows: (1) creates new knowledge and/or resource management strategy that advances towards the goal of sustainability, (2) allows for flexibility in technology and management options, (3) promotes policy integration between different departments and agencies, (4) matches appropriated budget with anticipated savings or revenue, and (5) considers the long-term for reevaluation. Using these sustainability considerations, the energy–water nexus policies exhibit many characteristics of sustainable policy. These same sustainability considerations can form a strong foundation for formulation of sustainable public policy that maintains quality of life for current and future generations.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Kelly T. Sanders, University of Southern California, for helpful feedback on an early version of this paper, and to three anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly improved this paper.
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 141 • Issue 12 • December 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 31, 2014
Accepted: Jan 6, 2015
Published online: Feb 17, 2015
Discussion open until: Jul 17, 2015
Published in print: Dec 1, 2015
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