Water Agencies Must Integrate Practices to Avoid Failure

The UK’s water management industry must undergo a ‘cultural shift’ and become more integrated in order to survive, according to industry experts.

Speakers at the Integrated Water Management conference in London, UK, told delegates that engineers, designers, energy firms and agricultural companies should work together to consider multiple viewpoints of how water should be managed.

Environment Agency head of water resources Trevor Bishop said: “We kid ourselves about how much we know about water. Everything we do is based on historical experience.

“Relying on the old style of science is a real problem and will lead to failure.”

Water agencies separately deal with water supply, wastewater and flood control, but this system is becoming more multipurpose, according to David Butler, professor of water engineering at the University of Exeter Centre of Water Systems.

“By playing around with different systems you can develop an understanding of what works,” he said, adding that integrated management can often lead to unexpected benefits such as cost reduction.

“By taking an integrated approach we can improve water quality,” he said.