Water is the basis for life. Water connects people, land, infrastructure, ecosystems, and the climate. The choices we make about how and where to use, transport, treat, or leave water resources have social, environmental, and economic consequences. These consequences are becoming more important over time. Water policy reveals the important effects of power in our political processes and decision making.

This course provides an intensive graduate-level introduction to the legal and institutional dimensions of U.S. water policy and an in-depth examination of the political challenges of water sustainability and equity. Students will gain substantive expertise in the landscape and key levers of U.S. water policy and politics, strengthen their policy analysis skills, be exposed to leaders in the field, and work toward designing solutions to complex socio-environmental problems. The focus is on decision making processes, power structures, conflicts, and rules. The course focuses on U.S. freshwater policy and politics (although with some international examples) with a particular emphasis on the Great Lakes region.