The Great Plains of North America stretch from Texas to Alberta. The history of the region is rich and its population diverse. But throughout this huge area, one issue has dominated culture and politics since before history began to be recorded. The need for water, the disputes over its use and ownership, and the consequences of those uses and disputes are concerns common to everyone who has ever lived here, concerns that grow sharper as water grows scarcer.In Water on the Great Plains: Issues and Policy, Peter J. Longo and David W. Yoskowitz have collected current scholarship on the cultural, economic, environmental, legal, and political implications of water policy. The ten essays contained here tell a lively history of successful and unsuccessful water policies and of how dedicated people and communities can work together to protect their homes. The authors sound an urgent call for wise management to preserve available water resources for the use of future generations.