Involvement of the public in water resources planning is generally required by federal law. However, the specific approach and techniques for involvement are left to the discretion of agencies participating in the particular project. This has resulted in considerable debate and experimentation aimed at discovery of effective public involvement techniques. This paper posits the Policy Delphi as one such technique, elaborates the major assumptions and rationale of the technique, and reports on an application of the approach in a water resources planning project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Policy Delphi proved to be a useful component of the public involvement program in this case, providing both planners and the wider public with informed opinion about water resources issues and alternatives. Methodological issues for consideration in future applications of the technique to water resources planning are discussed. INTRODUCTION Water resources planning laws, such as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, the Flood Control Act of 1970, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, have outlined guidelines for citizen involvement in planning. These guidelines have provided general directives, leaving the specifics of a public participation program open to the various agencies involved. The agencies have the responsibility for developing and implementing the various techniques of a viable participation program.The merits and limitations of particular techniques, e.g., public meetings, workshops, citizen advisory groups, citizen information bulletins, etc., used within programs have been the focus of much discussion [Bishop, 1970; Delbecq and Van de Ven, 1971;Priscoli, 1975;Ertel, 1979]. One promising means of eliciting public perceptions and preferences is the Delphi process, notably the Policy Delphi [Wagner and Ortolano, 1975]. This paper reports on the use of a Policy Delphi within a public involvement program; its application is described, the results are tabulated and discussed, and advantages and disadvantages are given. The objective of this paper is to contribute to the literature and debate on public involvement in water resources planning and, ultimately, to more effective public involvement programs. It is an assumption of the authors that direct public involvement is beneficial and that continued research on techniques and issues is needed.
THE DELPHI METHODSince its development in the 1950's, the Delphi method has been applied hundreds of times to problems in governmental planning and policy making, and therefore the general methodology is becoming well known. The purpose of the following discussion is to elaborate a relatively new deriva-
