Commentary: Public Policy Is Messy: Three Studies in Water Management

• Author: Phillip L. Isenberg
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12631
• Published date: 01 September 2016
• Date: 01 September 2016

Public Policy Is Messy: Three Studies in Water Management 751

Phillip L. Isenberg is an attorney and

director of the Public Policy Institute of

California who has served as Sacramento

city council member (1971–74), mayor of

Sacramento (1975–82), a member of the

California State Assembly (1982–96), and

a member of the Delta Stewardship Council

(2010–16).

E-mail : p.isenberg@comcast.net

Commentary

C alifornia is in the fifth year of a serious

drought. Our average temperatures are

increasing, and snow in the Sierra Nevada

mountain range, which provides a large part of our

regular water supply, is about 8 percent of normal. To

be sure, some of our major reservoirs have more water

in storage than last year, but statewide storage is still

below historical averages.

A slightly increased amount of rain last winter

has led to the abolition of mandatory state urban

water conservation rules. The hope seems to be that

voluntary conservation will be enough. Under most

circumstances this would define a crisis, or at least a

very serious problem.

In their article “Understanding What Shapes a

Polycentric Governance System,” Ramiro Berardo

and Mark Lubell bravely parachute into the middle

of classic water/environmental disputes. Is good

policy making more prevalent in the Tampa Bay

estuary in Florida, or in the Sacramento–San Joaquin

River delta in California, or in the Paraná River

delta in Argentina? Their conclusions are mixed, but

you have to scratch hard to find any evidence that

organizational heaven is around the corner.

For those of us with some responsibility for making

decisions on water and the environment and hoping

to “do good,” or at least muddle through as best we

can, this article clearly and embarrassingly shows

Phillip L. Isenberg

Public Policy Institute of California

Public Policy Is Messy: Three Studies in Water Management

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 76, Iss. 5, pp. 751–752. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12631.