**4. Results and Discussion**

The Legislative Framework is integrated in Table 2 indicating each of Ostrom's principles, and corresponding sections of the GWMPA, including requirements for IMPs. The most salient individual sections of the statute are identified for each principle. It should be noted that the last of Ostrom's principles—recognition of local rules and nested enterprisesare not coded because their overall design purposes are integrated through the overall approach requiring state (NeDNR) and local (NRD) coordination and cooperation in IMP operationalization. This cross-jurisdictional approach recognizing both local and state responsibility is clearly reflected in the statute's legislative findings, which identify NRDs as the "preferred regulators" for groundwater (§46-702), and state that the objective is that "(a)ll involved natural resource districts, the department, and surface water project sponsors should cooperate and collaborate on the identification and implementation of managemen<sup>t</sup> solutions" (§46-703 (6)).

**Table 2.** Sections of the GWMPA reflecting CPR design principles.


1 The year 1997 refers to the signing date of the Cooperative Agreement that created the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP) beginning on 1 January 2007. The PRRIP covers the Basin of the Platte River within Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. Each state was responsible for developing a plan to mitigate effects of surface and ground water depletions initiated after 1997.

> Six Ostrom design principles include references and field interviews relevant to sections of the GWMPA. The last two principles, Recognition of Local Rules and Nested Enterprises did not receive any mention from the interviewees.
