Clean Water Policy and State Choice

The Water Quality Act of 1987 ushered in a new era of clean water policy to the US. The Act stands today as the longest-lived example of national water quality policy. It included a then-revolutionary funding model for wastewater infrastructure - the Clean Water State Revolving Fund - which gave states much greater authority to allocate clean water infrastructure resources. Significant differences between states exist in terms of their ability to provide adequate resources for the program, as well as their ability (or willingness) to meet the wishes of Congress to serve environmental needs and communities. This book examines the patterns of state program resource distribution using case studies and analysis of state and national program data. This book is important for researchers from a range of disciplines, including water, environmental and infrastructure policy, federalism/intergovernmental relations, intergovernmental administration, and natural resource management, as well as policy makers and policy advocates.

• Contains an in-depth history of the development of national water quality policy in the US, providing a resource for advanced students, scholars, and policymakers
• Utilizes data from both national and state-level sources, and survey and interview data from program coordinators, to present a comprehensive analysis of the program, providing a holistic understanding of the nuances of the program
• Presents analyses of the program in various forms, including historical analyses, case studies, descriptive analyses, and inferential analyses, providing the reader with a range of lenses through which to view and understand the program under study.