Water Policy Under Pressure: Interdisciplinary Insights for Resilient Governance

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Water policy is at a critical juncture as climate change, population growth, and environmental degradation place unprecedented pressures on water resources. This moment presents an opportunity to reexamine governance structures, policy instruments, and institutional coordination to achieve resilient and equitable water outcomes. This interdisciplinary panel explores emerging strategies and persistent barriers in U.S. water governance, with a focus on the intersection of environmental sustainability, public policy, and infrastructure planning.

From drought-stricken water systems in the West to water-abundant but under-prepared regions in the Midwest, the four papers in this session examine how institutional, legal, economic, behavioral, and biophysical factors shape efforts to manage water more efficiently and equitably. They also grapple with how to anticipate unintended consequences of well-intentioned policies and the complex challenges that arise from governing water across jurisdictional, institutional, and hydrological boundaries.

Philip Womble (University of Washington) presents a systems modeling approach to strategic environmental water markets, offering a novel policy tool to reallocate water rights in a way that reduces consumption while restoring ecological health in the Colorado River Basin. Mehdi Nemati (UC Riverside) evaluates the real-world effectiveness of building codes aimed at reducing residential water use in California, using household-level billing data to assess the impacts—and potential unintended consequences—of CALGreen standards. Kurt Schwabe (UC Riverside) investigates water bill delinquency, service disconnections, and water affordability in Southern California, leveraging unique household-level data to provide empirical insights into which households face these challenges and the effectiveness of affordability policies. Elora Choudhury (University of Michigan) examines the political feasibility and regional disparities in wastewater recycling policy across the Great Lakes, arguing that the region’s perceived water abundance masks urgent infrastructural and climate adaptation needs, and that transboundary coordination is essential for long-term sustainability.

Together, these papers highlight a range of policy instruments—from market incentives to regulatory mandates to public communication—that are critical to the future of U.S. water policy. The panel includes scholars at different career stages and spans diverse methodological tools, including water systems simulation-optimization modeling, econometric analysis, policy analysis, spatial statistics, and case studies grounded in urgent law and policy challenges and their real-world constraints. Across the shared rubric of water security, this conversation aims to generate insights into how environmental policy can be more adaptive, integrated, and inclusive. It also explores how distinct policy instruments may complement one another in achieving sustainable and equitable resource use, and how evidence-informed research can bridge the divide between policy design and implementation in the face of mounting freshwater challenges.

Policy Area

• Natural Resource, Energy, and Environmental Policy

Chair

• Heather E. Campbell, Claremont Graduate University

Discussants

• Nicola Ulibarri, University of California, Irvine

• Laura Joaquina Morales-Whetstone, University of Pennsylvania

Organizer

• Philip Womble, University of Washington

Individual Presentations

• A Strategic Environmental Water Rights Market for Colorado River Reallocation - Presenting Author: Philip Womble, University of Washington

• How Effective Are Building Codes at Reducing Residential Water Use? Evidence from California Billing Data - Presenting Author: Mehdi Nemati, University of California, Riverside

• Water Bill Delinquency, Service Disconnections, and Water Affordability: Evidence from Southern California - Presenting Author: Kurt Schwabe, University of California, Riverside