This course provides a foundation in the legal and institutional dimensions of U.S. water policy, and an in-depth examination of the political challenges of water sustainability and equity. Course topics include perspectives from local, state, national, international contexts. Students will gain substantive expertise in the landscape and key levers of U.S. water policy and politics, strengthen their policy analysis skills, and work toward solutions to complex socio-environmental problems.   The course will strengthen EPP course offerings by building both understanding of public policy and political systems and the fundamentals of water law and policy specifically. The framework developed in the course for analyzing policy and politics will build on and largely mirror that in EAS 562, providing EPP students the opportunity to further develop those skills.  This course will provide a distinct policy and politics-focused approach to understanding water.