Developing the Law of the River: The Integration of Law and Policy into Hydrologic and Socio-Economic Modeling Efforts in the Willamette River Basin

Abstract

A legal and policy infrastructure—referred to as a “law of the river”—exists for every river basin in the U.S. and can be as important as natural processes in terms of managing the future of the resource. Because of the way that water law and policy have evolved in the U.S., this infrastructure involves a matrix of state and federal law that governs the choices that policymakers, end users, and agencies make. This “law of the river” provides the context in which decisions are made and not made. It also draws the boundaries within which decision makers believe they can operate. As a result, the law of the river and the policy choices that are faced can be interpreted as immovable or as constant in the larger decision-making dynamics of a river basin. Decision makers and stakeholders often claim definitiveness in terms of what the law can and cannot accomplish, and the legal questions are often presented as well settled and resolved. The law of the river, however, is as dynamic and active as the river itself, whether through the existing discretionary