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<br />,. .. ~ <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />The research team recognizes that it is economic self-interest <br />that motivates decisions about water, not a more general sense of the <br />"publ ic interest." The' team fully recognizes that what we sometimes <br />call "water management" is, in reality, the collection of many individual <br />and group actions, each responding to self-interest. These actions can <br />be aided by the application of informed group decisionmaking. No <br />overall water authority can make decisions about ~ow to manage the <br />basin's water resources that will gain widespread acceptance, but <br />there are ways that benefits from individual decisions can be increased <br />for all concerned through cooperation. This is the "win win" goal of <br />this research effort. <br />The need for more cooperation has been recognized for years. For <br />example, in 1960, Edward Moulder, of the US Geological Survey, called <br />for a "practical approach" to decisionmaking by voluntary groups (1). <br />More recently, there have been moves, to form associations of water users <br />to improve water use alternatives. There seems to be a trend in public <br />thinking about the need for more cooperation in water decisionmaking, <br />and it may be that voluntary, cooperative water management is an "idea <br />whose time has come" within the basin. It is expected that if water <br />right owners know the opportunities for mutual improvement they will <br />act accordingly. <br />In effect, the research team is proposing a more comprehensive <br />and informed approach to administering the water law. In the beginning <br />there was no control on water use, but quickly the river was developed <br />and the state put into effect a system of surface water rights. Later <br />it became clear that groundwater also needed regulating. Since the <br /> <br />l. <br />