Conflict in Federal Water Resource Planning

: Conflict occurs over technical judgments and value judgments in federal water resource planning. Cognitive conflict, value conflict, and interest conflict are common. Methods for resolving each of these three types of conflict have been developed. Resolution methods vary considerably by type of conflict, but most require explicit conflict definition and flexibility to choose freely from among available alternatives. Formal descriptions of the water resource planning process, which are based upon the rational-analytic model of choice among alternatives in pursuit of stipulated objectives, are largely consistent with the use of most of these conflict resolution methods. The reality of federal water resource planning, which has been shaped as much or more by the distributive political process which it serves as by the rational-analytic model, is not consistent with the use of most conflict resolution methods. Real objectives are hidden, the search for alternatives is sharply constrained by agency missions, and much flexibility is sacrificed to the necessity for strong early local commitment as a requirement for continued funding. When coupled with the normal tendency to avoid conflict for as long as possible, this results in foreclosure of most conflict resolution possibilities before conflicts are fully revealed.