Voluntary Regionalism in the Control of Water Resources
| Author | David W. Robinson |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624020700115 |
| Published date | 01 January 1940 |
| Date | 01 January 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
116
Voluntary
Regionalism
in
the
Control
of
Water
Resources
By
DAVID
W.
ROBINSON
I F
A
region
may
be
loosely
defined
as
any
area
selected
for
a
purpose,
a
river
basin
is
a
natural
delimitation
for
use
as
a
conservation
area.
Such
an
area,
one
in
which
the
resource
problem
is
similar,
is
for
our
purposes,
the
re-
gion.
The
drainage
basin
is
a
natural
and
compact
unit;
it
is
a
problem
area
bounding
a
set
of
physical
conditions
which
have
always
affected
social
and
economic
possibilities.
That
it
is
not
an
optimum
region
to
the
geographer,
the
planner,
the
economist,
the
sociologist,
or
the
political
scientist,
is
true
but
for
the
present
purpose
unimportant,
since
we
are
more
interested
in
the
matter
of
organization
for
regionalism-in
the
types
of
structural
machinery
which
have
been
developed
to
evolve
a
co-
ordination
and
co-operation
of
govern-
mental
and
administrative
units.
In
this
somewhat
specialized
field
of
conservation,
with
particular
emphasis
on
unified
water-resources
control,
there
has
developed
a
popular
approach
to
the
problem
of
regionalism.
1
It
may
be
that
from
the
organizations
and
tech-
niques
which
are
now
being
demon-
strated
in
scattered
sections
of
the
Na-
tion,
among
different
sets
of
governmen-
tal
units,
in
widely
varying
forms
and
methods
of
application,
there
may
be
derived
generalizations
which
may
be
removed
from
their
regional
settings
and
recast
to
fit
other
regions,
for
other
pur-
poses.
The
structure
and
the
method
in
this
field
should
not
be
restricted,
as,
indeed,
they
are
not
restricted
but
re-
lated
to
the
much
larger
field
of
gen-
eral
regional
planning.2
FUNCTIONS
To
evaluate
the
kinds
of
organization
which
have
been
developed.
to
effect
uni-
fied
control
of
interstate
rivers,
it
is
im-
portant
to
realize
that
such
projects
have
grown
steadily
in
size,
in
importance,
and
in
complexity
over
the
years.
Con-
trol
of
floods
has
become
more
and
more
imperative;
domestic
water
supplies
con-
tinue
to
demand
greater
and
more
de-
pendable
water
resources;
industries
are
constantly
using
larger
amounts
of
water
in
manufacturing
processes;
water
pol-
lution
and
sanitation
problems
insist-
ently
press
for
solution;
water
power
is
being
sought
for
and
developed
more
and
more;
navigation
demands
greater
depth
and
more
uniform
conditions;
fish
and
other
aquatic
life
are
increasingly
valued
commercially
and
by
the
sports-
man ;
recreational
areas
are
needed
and
must
be
developed
with
the
increase
of
leisure
time
and
improvements
in
trans-
portation.
How
to
meet
these
many
and
di-
vergent
demands
upon
an
interstate
stream
is,
in
brief,
the
problem
of
uni-
fied
water-resources
control,
the
function
of
regionalism
in this
field.
One
thing
is
certain:
the
protection
and
enjoyment
of
the
natural
resources
of
our
major
drain-
age
basins
cannot
be
left
to
the
individ-
ual
states
and
their
local
communities.
What
were
once
independent
problems
1
The
Regional
Approach
to
the
Conserva-
tion
of
Natural
Resources,
Bulletin of
the
Uni-
versity
of
Wisconsin,
Serial
No.
2341,
General
Series
2125,
Sept.
1938.
2
The
notable
pioneer
study,
Regional
Fac-
tors
in
National
Planning
and
Development,
prepared
and
published
through
the
National
Resources
Committee,
includes
a
series
of
in-
vestigations
and
analyses
particularly
pertinent
to
this
discussion
of
voluntary
regionalism.
at SAGE PUBLICATIONS on November 29, 2012ann.sagepub.comDownloaded from
To continue reading
Request your trial