The management of water quality for Lake Erie looms as a major challenge to society, particularly to government at all levels, if the lake is to survive and recover from severe pollution and eutrophication. Most experts agree that one major barrier to achieving efficient water-quality management is that of inadequate public policies and political institutions. During the 'public choice' theory was refined and basic information on water-quality issues in Cleveland and Toledo were collected and analyzed to determine the relevance of this theory to common-pool resource management problems in large urban areas. The preliminary findings derived from this project suggest that the public-choice theory has potential application to the analysis of complex systems such as the management of water quality in the Lake Erie Basin. (Author)