Public demands for a greater role in decisions concerning the use of the nation's natural resources have led planners to the adoption of various methods for public participation in the water resources planning process. This report documents one of the early efforts to involve the public in a comprehensive basin study--the Puget Sound and Adjacent Waters Study in the State of Washington. The study, conducted by a Task Force of the Pacific Northwest River Basins Commission, used as the public participation mechanisms a series of public workshops designed to enable public review of the planning documents and to give local interests an opportunity to recommend changes to the preliminary findings of the Puget Sound Task Force. The report is largely a case study, describing the background of the study and the factors leading to the decision to conduct the workshops, a description of the organization and functioning of the workshops, and an evaluation of their success in meeting the goals for which they were established. (Author).