Rivers of Life: Managing Water for People and Nature
Sandra Postel and Brian Richter (Island Press 2003)

Josh Clemons, M.S., J.D.

We humans love building dams. When a child encounters a trickle of water in a ditch or yard, nine times out of ten he or she will plop a big lump of mud down in the middle of it to alter the flow. The urge does not abate with age. For millennia, people have altered natural river flow patterns to provide benefits like flood protection, irrigation, navigation, and energy. Flow alteration on a massive scale has been most pronounced in the northern third of the world (including the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the former Soviet Union) where over three-fourths of large river systems are hydrologically modified – and enough water is impounded to affect the tilt of the earth’s axis and the speed of its rotation. While all this flow modification and river management has undeniably been highly useful to humanity, it is equally undeniable that the benefits have not come without ecological and environmental costs.

In Rivers of Life, Sandra Postel and Brian Richter argue that human civilization has reached a point at which it is necessary to develop new ways of thinking about water management. Rather than viewing water solely as a resource to be exploited by diversion and impoundment, we should consider the benefits that natural systems provide: fish and wildlife habitat, water purification, soil regeneration, and so on. These benefits should be quantified to the extent possible so that they can then be considered in cost/benefit analyses of both individual projects and general policy. The logical outcome of this process will be what the authors call an “ecosystem support allocation” – the amount of water necessary to sustain the ecosystem benefits. Human diversionary uses will not be permitted to encroach upon this allocation. The authors strongly emphasize that their approach does not entail sacrificing economic health, or even economic growth. To the contrary, economic forces would realign with the production and enjoyment of sustainable benefits, and jobs would follow.

Postel and Richter highlight some encouraging developments. South Africa has established a two-part “reserve” that protects allocations of water for basic human needs and ecosystem preservation. Australia has put a cap on diversions from the large, multi-state Murray-Darling river basin. The authors examine the existing policy mechanisms available to develop similar protection schemes to benefit river systems in the U.S., particularly in the Southeast, where some of the most stressed systems are located. Reading carefully, however, one discovers that the South African and Australian endeavors are still in the early stages and have not yet proven that politicians will actually take real water from powerful, entrenched economic interests in overallocated river basins. Nonetheless, the possibilities are intriguing.

Rivers for Life is a work of advocacy as much as economics or science, and the authors make a good case for the common-sense idea of considering ecosystem benefits in cost/benefit analyses. In doing so they make some assumptions that are based on policy and not economics or science. For instance, they seem to assume that allocating water to protect endangered species is the most rational viewpoint. That is not necessarily so. It is no less rational to place a higher value on flood control or hydropower than on a certain species of fish or plant. Remember that when the U.S. Supreme Court enjoined completion of the Tellico Dam because of the endangered snail darter, Congress quickly amended the Endangered Species Act to allow the dam to be completed anyway. Whether that outcome is good or not is debatable, but it is debatable.

In short, values are subjective. For those whose values correspond to the authors’, Rivers of Life provides powerful ammunition for arguing for the preservation of ecosystem values. For others, the book may encourage fresh ways of thinking about water management issues and prove that the ecological perspective has significant merit. By advocating a more thorough consideration of all costs and benefits, and calling for careful consideration of future needs, the authors have made a valuable contribution to the ongoing national and international discussion of water resource management policy.