Regional Versus Local Water Supply Planning

The Metropolitan Washington, D.C., area water supply study being conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presents an approach in planning for water supplies that can lead to regional management. The challenge, however, rests with the local decision‐makers in seeing that a management plan is adopted for the Metropolitan Washington area. Unfortunately, local governments find themselves in a dilemma revolving around the economic and selfsufficient nature of governance. This paper explains how the Metropolitan Washington area has reached a point when new supplies must be developed. The area's supply base is a finite resource where previous independent actions have not caused any serious problems. Now there are obvious advantages in cooperating to develop a regional water policy as well as sharing in the development of cost‐effective solutions.