Approved by the Energy, Environment, and Water Policy Committee on November 20, 2023 
Approved by the Public Policy and Practice Committee on May 1, 2024
Adopted by the Board of Direction on July 18, 2024

Policy

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) supports:

  • Sustainable and integrated water resources management using a watershed-based approach.
  • Development of a comprehensive approach and framework for watershed management that engages all levels of governance within the watershed.
  • Establishment of specific roles and responsibilities for each level of government with authority and responsibility to manage the water and environmental resources in the watershed.
  • Cooperative funding programs that strengthen watershed stakeholder partnerships.
  • Consideration of social equity for all residents within the watershed basin.

Issue

Watersheds, by their nature, cross geologic and political boundaries. Multiple federal, state, and local and Native American tribal governments have rights and responsibilities in the integrated management of environmental resources within a watershed. Therefore, watershed management is often fragmented, or focused on an individual project or element of the watershed. Legislation authorizing and funding water resource management and planning has typically focused on solving a specific problem or need within and has not considered the interrelated, hydrologic, and environmental system that defines the watershed. 

Rationale

Managing the increasing impacts of changing climate on water resource quality and quantity within a watershed requires a “one water” integrated approach where all watershed stakeholders play a role in managing the watershed. Effective watershed management is facilitated when the public and private sectors work collaboratively to achieve common goals. Watershed solutions are generally not amenable to past approaches that only solve one aspect of water, negatively affecting other water uses, sometimes unintentionally. 

Of particular importance is recognizing the diverse social and economic nature of watersheds and considering the need for social equity among all communities within the watershed. Using the watershed-based approach, all levels of government, the public, and private industry are encouraged to participate in the decision-making and implementation process. This may include engineering studies, social and political assessments, and inclusion of the people who live and work in the watershed. In this way, management actions which reflect local and regional viewpoints are directly incorporated in watershed policy and plans.

ASCE Policy Statement 422
First Approved in 1994