The Intergovernmental Relations of Water Policy and Management: Florida-Holland Parallels

Alfred R. Light, St. Thomas University

Abstract

Comparison of water policy and management in Florida and Holland yields important insights. We look for insights primarily in one area of comparison critical to effective implementation of public policy– intergovernmental relations. After a short introduction to the natural history that forges unconscious bonds between Florida and Holland, South Florida and Zeeland, we look for parallels in the recent history of water management in the two jurisdictions. We then turn to a comparison of the formal institutional and informal intergovernmental structures that shape water management. We then show how these processes work in practice by comparing similar innovations linking water management and spatial planning. Finally, we return to a central theme– the overwhelming imperative in both jurisdictions to defend the public safety