What is Integrated Water Management?

Integrated Water Management

The water environment

After more than 200 years of rapid economic human development, the water environment is not as good as we want it to be, few of our waters are in their natural state. A lot has improved in the last 30 years, mainly due to better regulation, tougher rules and robust enforcement, but the pace of change is not enough.
Ensuring clean and plentiful water is one of the biggest challenges we face, and delivering it is one of the biggest gifts we can give to future generations. If we are to close the outcome gap between the current and forecasted future health of water and deliver a sustainable and resilient water environment for the future that meets environmental, social and economic needs, we need a change in our approach to water and land management.

What is Integrated Water Management?

Integrated Water Management (IWM) is a collaborative approach to managing land and water which mitigates the risks to people and the environment from having too much and/or too little water, as well as risks related to water pollution.
At its heart, IWM focuses on approaches which can provide integrated beneficial outcomes to more than one aspect of the water cycle including water storage, supply, demand, wastewater, flood risk, and water quality whilst also providing wider benefit to the environment and society.
It isn’t an additional ask or step in the process, but an approach / way of working that seeks to bring together and better align/coordinate existing planning mechanisms into a holistic approach to water management that better informs / enables a more joined approach to decision making, spatial policy planning and investment.
It will build on existing and proposed mechanisms including for example the delivery of the Environment Act targets (which sets out ambitions to take a more integrated approach to water planning), Local Nature Recovery Strategies, River Basin Management Plans, Flood Risk, Water Resource, and Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans.