12 MULTIPLE PURPOSE RIVER DEVELOPMENT 



which of several alternatives is employed in obtaining efficient 

 water resource development. We leave to the political process in 

 our representative government the problem of distilling a consensus 

 as to which among the several income distributive consequences is 

 most consistent with the prevailing set of ethical values. 



There are some self-imposed limitations on the scope of this 

 study. First, we have confined ourselves to only a limited set of 

 the total gamut of problems involved in water resources develop- 

 ment. Since some of the major problems and the most significant 

 issues arise in connection with multiple purpose river basin 

 projects, we have concentrated on them. In doing so, we have 

 neglected many other significant topics — as, for example, land- 

 treatment programs in tributary watersheds or, somewhat further 

 removed, the problems arising out of weather modification or 

 utilization of saline waters. 



In still another sense have we restricted the scope of the study. 

 Equally as important as the efficiency and equity considerations 

 involved, no doubt, are those concerning the most appropriate 

 form of organization or instrumentality for the achievement of 

 goals of water resources development. In many ways, prescribing 

 the form of organization most appropriate for achieving efficiency 

 goals, within restraints imposed by equity considerations, may be 

 a less analytical task; but, also in many ways, it is beyond the grasp 

 of a single discipline. It is for others — the experienced public 

 administrators, the political scientists, the practitioners of the art 

 of politics, and the electorate; in short, the architects of our social 

 institutions — to design the institutional arrangements most appro- 

 priate for river basin development needs. We trust, however, that 

 our effort will have utility in pointing up possibilities for institu- 

 tional modifications which may serve efficiency as well as other 

 values. 



While it should become quite apparent what this study intends 

 to do, it may not be as evident what it is not equipped to do. We 

 recognize that in our society efficiency is a value to which a great 

 deal of importance attaches. We also recognize that efficiency is not 

 the only, and perhaps not the dominant, value; in a study of com- 

 parative efficiency among alternative courses of action, considera- 

 tions of equity are also involved. But in a broader sense still, we 

 recognize that there may be higher criteria than efficiency criteria. 

 That is, river basin programs may be undertaken to increase the 



