This paper investigates how national water laws that govern the utilization and management of river waters are being translated at the local level. The hypothesis is that because of the absence of fines and penalties in the noncompliance of the laws, degradation of the resource is taking place.This paper highlights the inability of the local governments to implement national laws pertaining to natural resource management focusing on river resources. The use of economic instruments was demonstrated to facilitate enforcement of laws in terms of defining user charges for the damages that will lead to changes in the status quo.
The researches collaborated with the LGUs, other local government offices and the community members in identifying the problems in the locality up to the formulation of the relevant policies necessary to resolve the resource management problems in the area. Both the local policy makers and the intended clients agreed on the solutions based on their own assessment rather than those of the researchers or national policy makers. They were guided by the knowledge from the trainings on policy analysis conducted by the researchers.