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WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT IN AN ENVIRONMENTALLY‐CONSCIOUS ERA 1
Author(s) -
Carlin Alan
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1971.tb05903.x
Subject(s) - business , government (linguistics) , environmental planning , resource (disambiguation) , water resources , profit (economics) , environmental quality , natural resource economics , environmental economics , public economics , environmental resource management , economics , political science , environmental science , computer network , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , computer science , law , biology , microeconomics
The Sierra Club, which has long fought selected water resource projects that it believes would be environmentally damaging, has come to the conclusion in recent years that much more basic reforms are required in water resources development activities if the demands for environmental quality now evidenced by the American people are to be satisfied. These reforms should not be limited to those that would have a direct effect on the environmental aspects of proposed projects, but also many others long advocated by the economics profession that would have favorable indirect effects. Among the urgent reforms with indirect effects are those involving revision of the procedures used in evaluating proposed projects. These procedures should be revised so that future evaluations will much more accurately reflect the economic and environmental merits of proposed projects. Basic reforms of tax policies are also needed that will eliminate most of the private profit available to those who can persuade the government to increase the value of their land through the construction of water projects. Finally, some additional actions can be taken that will have a direct impact on lessening the adverse environmental impact of water projects beyond the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.