This book is about the enactment, adaption, and ultimately fragmentation of government policy regarding the use of water in the American west. It describes its origins, how it became about building big projects, and how it was fragmented by pressures from environmental activism.

The book also explores the western water crisis in the United States. The case studies used in here will help readers understand water development and the political battles around it in most of the western states to show here how and why the policy changed and even broke down. The book is divided into two parts and describes the different eras of water policy. While most books on water policy focus on its deficiencies for meeting future challenges, Water Politics: The Fragmentation of Western Water Policy attempts to explore why those deficiencies occurred in the first place.

The book is intended for undergraduate and graduate students in political science and policy studies who are interested in how public policies are enacted, how they change, and how they fall apart over time and why. The book will also be of particular interest to students in other disciplines that deal with water such as environmental studies, geology, sociology, hydrology, and civil engineering.