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Troubled Water: Acquiescence, Conflict, and the Politics of Place in Watershed Management

Steinberg, Philip E.; Clark, George E.

Authors

George E. Clark



Abstract

Controversy surrounds proposed revisions in access and recreation policy at central Massachusetts' Wachusett Reservoir, a crucial source of drinking water for metropolitan Boston. This policy conflict illuminates a broader tension between rural and exurban resource-supply areas and metropolitan areas that are committed to resource extraction and urban growth. Boston dominates the reservoir region and extracts its resources, while less powerful local residents disagree with and sometimes protest against policies detrimental or perceived to be detrimental to their interests. Despite this tension, data gathered from surveys at the reservoir, supplementary interviews, archival research, and attendance at public meetings reveal that many potential sites of acrimony are characterized by positive attempts to reclaim place rather than direct opposition to outside domination. Findings suggest that residents in the reservoir region have attached their own values to the reservoir, including both rational valuation of specific non-drinking-water benefits and non-instrumental valuation of the reservoir as an integral part of residents' lifeworlds. Although tensions persist between Boston and the Wachusett region, area residents' complex valuation of the reservoir as a space of utility and a place of everyday life suggests opportunities for consensual resource coalitions and initiatives.

Citation

Steinberg, P. E., & Clark, G. E. (1999). Troubled Water: Acquiescence, Conflict, and the Politics of Place in Watershed Management. Political Geography, 18(4), 477-508. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0962-6298%2898%2900111-5

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 1999
Deposit Date Sep 6, 2013
Journal Political Geography
Print ISSN 0962-6298
Electronic ISSN 1873-5096
Publisher Elsevier
Volume 18
Issue 4
Pages 477-508
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/s0962-6298%2898%2900111-5
Keywords Watershed management; Social movements; Sense of place; Non-instrumental rationality; Wachusett Reservoir
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1448100