This dissertation investigates changes in funding of federal water projects and the development of new water policies during the administrations of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. I conclude that these events precipitated a shift in the Bureau of Reclamation's mission. Carter's proposed recommendations to terminate funding on several large federal water projects, dubbed the "Hit List," as well as proposed water policy changes--specifically local cost sharing, increased conservation, acreage limitation, federal reserved water rights, and rules pertaining to sections 208, 303, and 404 of the Clean Water Act--significantly shaped regional and national politics including the Sagebrush Rebellion and anti-environmentalism. While President Reagan sympathized with the Sagebrush Rebels rhetoric during his campaign, his administrations budgets and proposed local cost sharing requirements were more extensive that Carter's. The contrast and similarities between the two administrations are best seen in case studies of the two largest Bureau of Reclamation projects initially included on Carter's "Hit List," the Garrison Diversion Unit and the Central Utah Project.