Unpacking the success among water quality collaborative governance efforts in the United States

Abstract

Water quality is worsening in many parts of the world and traditional governance approaches have done little to ameliorate this trend. Collaborative governance (CG) shows promise for the potential to improve water quality. However, we do not understand fully what aspects of collaborative governance contribute to water quality improvement and under what conditions. To begin to address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify and then code fifty-six collaborative water quality governance cases across the US. Results indicate that motivations and goals for CG explain water quality improvement, when CG is government-led. However, results also suggest that water quality improvement is not always possible despite sound CG approaches. Instead, CG may achieve other intermediate outcomes such as reduced conflict, actionable knowledge production, or broadened networks. But factors associated with these outcomes differ suggesting there may be trade-offs in orienting CG towards water quality improvement or towards a different outcome of interest. We conclude that there is no "one-size-fits-all" for collaborative governance; rather, CG must be carefully designed to align with the desired outcomes and impacts.