Number: 1996-04
WHEREAS, water is essential for all life, and the water necessary to sustain life is a limited resource upon which our nation’s economic, social, and environmental well-being depend; and
WHEREAS, water management is a complex science that demands high levels of interdisciplinary coordination and professional expertise; and
WHEREAS, development and management of water resources is fragmented at the Federal level among a number of Departments and agencies that have continually exhibited difficulty in providing for appropriate levels of coordination in water resource problem- solving, and which has in many instances resulted in significant and unnecessary damage to fish and wildlife resources and declines in environmental quality; and
WHEREAS, the functions to be served by water resources development and management have also been dispersed, fragmented, and made overlapping among Federal agencies, often without coordinated policies, goals, or procedures; and
WHEREAS, the justification is largely lacking for continued Federal assumption of certain water resources functions, such as the Army Corps of Engineers flood control program, which has demonstrably undercut efforts by state and local governments and other federal agencies to control flood damages through non-structural and less environmentally harmful means, and where through time the nature of projects has changed to projects that provide mostly local benefits, and are of mostly local size and scale; and
WHEREAS, there is need for the U.S. Congress to improve how we monitor, preserve, and manage our nation’s valuable water resources;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled March 1-3, 1996 in West Palm Beach, Florida, supports and proposes that the U.S. Congress direct the President to study the economic efficiencies and the environmental and policymaking improvements that could be accomplished through consolidation within the Department of the Interior of the civil functions of the federal water development agencies, including the potential transfer of such civil functions from the Department of the Army.