Political and financial factors often overwhelmed the planning process. Political scientists warned that rational water allocation required political as well as economic calculations. This last point was examined explicitly at Harvard University, where in 1955, professors Arthur Maass and Maynard Hufschmidt established the Harvard Water Program, a multidisciplinary research and training program to develop new methodological techniques in water resources planning. The program proposed a new approach to economic evaluation multiobjective analysis and Harry Schwarz became its leading practitioner. Not to be confused with multipurpose planning, which focuses on irrigation, flood control, navigation, etc., multiobjective analysis addresses actual social objectives, such as income generation, food or industrial production, and regional development.
Tradeoffs are necessary.
Schwarz participated in the Harvard Water Program in the late 1950s, at the same time that he headed the Potomac River Basin Study, which was among the first to consider social impacts and to evaluate the relationship between water quality and quantity. Later, Schwarz applied some of the ideas of the Harvard Water Program to the Susquehanna River Basin study, in particular the use of computer models to portray various possible hydrological events. This study remains the outstanding example of multiobjective analysis. In providing direction to these studies, Schwarz transformed theory and abstract calculations into plans that were truly meant to improve people s lives in equitable and environmentally responsible ways. Many of the ideas he helped implement the emphasis on watershed management, the relationship between water quality and quantity, and the responsible reconciliation of environmental stewardship with economic development appear very modern.