this is explained by the fact that design and implementation of regional policies relies heavily on subnational governments obstacles to coherence between water and other policy areas in oecd countries cont besides overlapping unclear and nonexistent allocation of responsibilities is more problematic when it comes to coordinating water and regional development policies than for the energy and agricultural sectors for several reasons first oecd countries have generally set up more coordination mechanisms between water energy and agricultural policies than in the areas of regional development and spatial planning second water and energy policies are frequently led within an environment ministry and water resources management are often handled at least in part within a ministry of agriculture