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progress Toward a National Water Policy The massive report of the Commission remains in official limbo. It is widely understood that water demands are influenced by government policies. 8 Theodore M. Schad Executive Director National Ground Water Policy Forum and Executive Director National Water Commission 1968-1973 Discussion of the need for a national water policy is not new. The 1973 report of the NationalWlter Commission focused on seven themes which, 12 years later, can serve to show us how far we've come - and how far we have yet to go. In some circles it is popular to deplore the lack of a national water resources policy and to predict a national water crisis with economic consequences more dire than those caused by the" energy crisis" of the 1970s. Before succumbing to the malaise of doom and gloom engendered by such predictions, however, it is well to look at what has actually happened in the water policy field in the past decade and where we appear to be heading. The epochal report of the National Water Commission issued in June of 1973 provides a convenient benchmark from which to start. The Commission was created by act of Congress in 1968 as an outgrowth of the controversy over the use of the waters of the Colorado River Basin, Authorization of the Central Arizona Project created a situation wherein the demands for water in the lower Colorado River Basin exceed the long-term average supply. Rather than have the Congress address this problem through studies directed only at the Colorado River Basin, the Bureau of the Budget suggested an objective study of all the water problems of the entire United States, leading to policy recommendations aimed at solving future water problems, A Review of the Nation's Water Problems The legislation creating the National Water Commission directed it to review all present and anticipated national water problems, to identify alternative ways of meeting water requirements, to consider the economic and social consequences of water resources development, to provide advice to the President and the Water Resources Council upon request and to report on its studies simultaneously to the President and the Congress. The Commission was chaired by Charles F Luce and consisted of seven members appointed by PresidentsJohnson and Nixon, None of the Commission members was permitted to have any other federal government position. With the $5 million appropriated for its work, the Commission directed a wide-ranging and objective program of studies of all aspects of water resources policy. It published over 60 background studies, held hearings on its studies and on the draft of its report, and received input from over 7000 individuals and institutions that commented on its draft report. After consideration of the comments received, the Commission transmitted its final report to the President and the Congress on June 14, 1973, Unfortunately, the concluding step contemplated by the National Water Commission Act, transmittal of the Commission's report by the President to the Congress with his comments and recommendations for legislation, was never completed. The massive report of the Commission, Water Policies for the Future,! with more than 200 recommendations for improving national water policy, remains in official limbo. Nevertheless, the Commission's report has had a considerable impact on the evolution of national water policy in the past 10 years, and many of its recommendations are being implemented,