Participation by Environmental N.G.O.s in Management Decisions in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Basin

Abstract

The two principal parties in the complex process of water resources management are river basin "managers" (ie., government entities with authority to manage water) and basin "people", (i.e., those who use and have various needs of the water). Ideally, in a representative democracy, basin managers should perform program management functions and deliver services in response to the collective needs and interests of basin people. This paper examines the success of approaches used by one sector of the basin people, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to influence the water resources decision-making process in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) drainage basin. Basin people are not a homogeneous entity, but a set of groups which often have conflicting interests in, and desires from, water resources. The intent of this paper is to examine the influence of one of these groups as a representative example of the role of all basin people in water resources management.