Watershed Protection and the Rise of Environmental Cooperation: How New York City Learned to Share

In 1997, New York City joined environmental organizations, the state and federal governments, and residents of the city’s upstate watersheds, in signing a landmark environmental pact known as the Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The MOA initiated the world’s most comprehensive watershed protection regime, a suite of programs designed to both protect the quality of New York City’s water supply and encourage environmentally responsible economic development in upstate watersheds. How did New York City and watershed residents, whose contentious relationship stretched back almost a century, overcome their differences to reach consensus on the MOA?

I argue that the confluence of several factors, some structural, some contingent, accounted for the willingness of both New York City officials and watershed residents to agree to a pact. The existence of strict federal water quality regulations was the most important factor leading both sides to compromise. Faced with a stark choice—invest untold billions in a water filtration plant or pay considerably less to develop a watershed protection program—New York City opted for cooperation. Federal regulations, often depicted as a blunt policy instrument, impelled two longtime adversaries to strike a deal. I also stress the skillful oversight of the MOA negotiations by state officials, and the empathy and creativity displayed by key participants in the negotiations as crucial elements in the MOA’s success.

The success of New York City’s watershed negotiations was not an isolated incident. In the 1990s, activists, local residents, and government officials throughout the United States joined forces to devise innovative solutions to a wide range of environmental conflicts. My paper will place the MOA in this larger context of blossoming environmental cooperation, and consider the long-term significance of these alternative modes of settling natural resources disputes.