Catchments as units for investment decision-making

Research currently undertaken at the University of Bath and Wessex Water indicates that planning investment actions at a catchment scale is essential for water industries to support human wellbeing and safeguard ecosystems. To achieve this, natural assets (i.e. land, soil, ecosystems) need to be accounted for in the asset management portfolio of the water sector. The work creates a methodology which enables catchment-based asset management and links water and environmental science with cost engineering. A key output of the research is a structured framework that allows water industry asset managers to assess the impacts and costs of catchment-based planning decisions, for example, the purchase of new infrastructure versus collaborative schemes with farmers. The conclusions of this research project relate to sustainability in both environmental and economic terms, by answering the following question: is it beneficial to include natural assets in the asset management portfolio of water industries?