Water in the West: Review of Ten Policy Challenges and Research Needed to Address Them

The American West is in a period of increased water stress driven by accumulating overexploitation of aquifers and large Lower Colorado Basin reservoirs, rising temperatures, declining snowpack, prolonged drought, and aging infrastructure. These challenges intersect with fragmented governance systems, overallocated water rights, ecological degradation, and unresolved tribal water claims. This paper identifies and evaluates 10 urgent water policy challenges shaping the future of the Western United States, emphasizing regional specificity and cross-cutting institutional themes. Drawing on Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development framework, recent empirical studies, and interdisciplinary water governance literature, this work presents an informed synthesis of the region’s water problems. The analysis integrates legal, hydrologic, economic, and scientific dimensions, offering insights into how legacy water systems—designed for the 20th century—are struggling to adapt to 21st-century climate and societal realities. It incorporates recent case studies from California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Utah, highlights Indigenous water issues, and examines innovations in governance and infrastructure renewal.