Federal riverbasin planning in the coastal zone: The long Island sound study

Abstract

Abstract The Long Island Sound Study (LISS), completed in 1975 by the New England River Basins Commission, is an important case study in federal water planning in the coastal zone. To set the study in perspective, this article reviews the history and background of federal water planning which provided the concepts and attitudes which undergirded the LISS. The article then reviews the major recommendations of the LISS, showing how the study results were constrained by the institutional structure and attitudes inherited from past water planning practice. In every instance where the study made an innovative contribution, it was by transcending the limits of traditional planning practice, or by rejecting traditional assumptions. The experience of the LISS leads to several recommendations for using federal water planning institutions in coastal zone planning. Coastal zone management is fundamentally different from most other problems of federal water planning. This is because implementation will rest largely w...