Integrating Stormwater into Complete Watershed Management

The practice and study of watershed management has a long, rich history. Yet, the potential contributions of this field appear to be substantially constrained in many situations. Watershed management provides a powerful and integrated systems-based theoretical framework to address water resource management issues. It provides a mechanism to build consensual, win-win solutions to water resource problems, bridge science and policy, integrate solutions across agencies, jurisdictions and disciplines. For all its strengths, though, it seems oddly rare that comprehensive, sustainable watershed management efforts are the anomaly instead of the norm. An assessment of opportunities and constraints to more sustainable watershed management, from both the public and private perspective, identifies education, economics and collaborative planning as both obstacles and opportunities for complete watershed management.