Water management practices in cities around the world are faced with growing social and environmental pressures. Unfortunately, the linear “take-make-waste” approach, previously recognized as the most conclusive practice to address water-related issues, has been found to be unsustainable due to its dependence on the limited availability of energy and resources. It is, therefore, necessary to change the current linear approach dominant in most cities across the world to one that utilizes a high degree of reuse and recycling that is known as “One Water”. The goal of this study is to evaluate a series of expert interviews that were conducted with utilities across the US and Canada to gain insights into implementing One Water principles. Interpreting several interviews is the key step to provide water managers with an understanding of the perspective and required actions towards transitions in urban water management. The results indicated that although several pressures were described in the expert interviews responses, climate change was the most frequently described pressure, followed by water quality impairments and population growth. Moreover, it has been identified that the studied cities have implemented several strategies such as green infrastructure, recycled water, desalination, and stormwater management to achieve this holistic approach. The thematic analysis revealed that all cities demonstrated the importance of cultural change to break down silos and support various technological solutions. Further investigations revealed that cities encounter several barriers that inhibit the One Water transition. One of the most frequently discussed barriers was related to financial challenges in most cities, especially in light of the pandemic when substantial cities lost their revenue. In addition to the financial challenges, lack of regulatory process and framework, institutional barriers for expanding One Water strategies, short-term thinking, lack of collaboration, community resistance to change, lack of public support, and water rights were mentioned by participants as the top barriers.

Climate change poses uncertain, complex, and emerging risks to local governments across the country, particularly in regions prone to flood and storm hazards. While local governments recognize the importance of finding innovative approaches to climate change adaptation, it remains a challenge for many reasons, including the high cost of policy experimentation, lack of organizational capacity, and uncertainty about the efficacy of potential adaptation strategies. These are not merely challenges of technological innovation, but also of social and policy innovation. It is increasingly recognized that collaboration is required to meet these challenges. Collaborations of various types---referred to broadly as policy networks---give organizations access to information, ideas, and other resources that may be used to adapt to climate change. Certain types of networks are hypothesized to be effective for these purposes, particularly networks that span fragmented communities and integrate different knowledge systems and resources. These types of networks tend to reduce information asymmetries and maximize the diversity of information and resources available to network actors, thus increasing capacity to manage uncertain, emerging, and complex problems. In this paper we characterize the policy network surrounding climate change adaptation in Southeast Florida that includes municipal actors as well as a diverse array of stakeholders in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Data are gathered using a survey of organizational representatives in the region, identified though systematic searches of organizational websites as well as nominations by other climate change professionals. Overall this study shows a complex web of collaborations where over 300 diverse actors are exchanging information about climate change and sharing resources to address adaptation. Findings demonstrate that county governments and regional nonprofit organizations, such as the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, play a crucial role in linking disparate resources and knowledge systems in the region. These organizations help to stabilize network ties within a complex and rapidly shifting political landscape, making them instrumental for the delivery of climate adaptation services.