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This dissertation provides a foundation for understanding how water governance has changed over time, how watershed positionality and governance level shape the goals and strategies as well as the coordination of organizations actively involved in water issues, and how local, rural stakeholders changed legacy groundwater management. The first study examines the evolution of Colorado River Basin water management over the last century to understand how changing environmental conditions and path dependency have shaped past water management changes. Improved understanding can help inform policy responses to current challenges. The combined spatial, temporal, and network analyses show that Colorado River Basin water governance has been influenced by 100 years of rules that are layered and still in place. The rules have evolved water management strategies over time, shifted the emphasis of water management actions, and changed the distribution of authority across actions and rule levels. The second study explores how water management coordination varies based on governance level and physical location in the watershed. Additionally, this study analyzes how the level of governance and hydrologic position of organizations shape goals, strategies, and beliefs about the risks and benefits of changes to Colorado River Basin water management factors. The content and cluster analysis found the level of governance more influential than the hydrologic position and that coalitions can rearrange in a short period of time based on how the issue is framed. The last study unveils how local, rural residents were able to change legacy groundwater management through a process that began with a social movement to a ballot initiative to public input on groundwater management via a management goal-setting policy process in the Douglas Groundwater Basin in Arizona. The framing analysis shows that the public can identify problems and solutions, including paired solutions, but residents do not know whom to identify as being responsible for addressing water management in the basin. 

The 1922 Colorado River Compact started the long history of water governance in the Colorado River Basin. Over the last century, the institutional structure has shaped water governance in the basin. However, an understanding of the long-term evolution is lacking. This study examines how water management strategies have evolved at the basin scale by incorporating institutional, temporal, and network structure analysis methods to examine long-term changes. Content analysis was employed to systematically investigate encouraged and/or discouraged water management actions at different rule levels. The water governance network was examined at four points in time to map the institutional structure, actors, and governance level at which rules are issued and targeted. Using institutional analysis, we found constitutional, operational, and collective-choice level rules for water supply, storage, movement, and use have been altered via layering of new governance rules without major rule or responsibility alteration. The network analysis results indicate that key decision-making positions have remained and actors who issue and are targeted by the rules lack significant change. We found original positions of power have been maintained, potentially stagnating the space for problem-solving and management strategy renegotiation. Our results indicate that path dependency has shaped water governance and who is able to influence decision-making.