Bridging troubled waters: Achieving integrated partnership working in urban water management

Ward, S; Potter, K

Abstract

A wide international body of research has begun to influence water management thinking in the UK. From the 1990s, concerns over water quality, droughts and increasing flood risk have heightened awareness of water issues and raised them higher on the political agenda. In line with broader changes in the environmental policy domain, a marked change in the policy discourse to concepts such as ‘sustainability’, ‘biodiversity’ and ‘environmental quality’ can be seen, which reflects a significant change in the definition and framing of water policy ‘problems’ and the preferred means to tackle them. Originally, responsibility for water management rested largely with engineers in state environmental policy departments and agencies based on regulatory strategies; this arrangement has been transformed into a more open ‘multi-sector’ and ‘multi-actor’ field that calls for shared responsibilities and new participatory approaches. However, everyday practices and mind-sets of key stakeholders are perhaps the most severe constraint and prove the hardest to change. Research undertaken on the institutional basis of environmental policy has uncovered just how stable and lasting some of the pre-existing institutional patterns are, how they are continually being reproduced and consolidated, and how resistant they are to change. Drawing on case study research undertaken on rainwater harvesting and floodplain restoration in the UK, the emergence of new policy arrangements are described and analysed. Insight is gained into the way in which the turn in discourse to sustainable and integrated water management has affected relationships between water managers (engineers and hydrologists) and spatial planners. Can new methods of working and partnerships institutionalise and replace existing traditional engineering policy arrangements?

Citation

Ward, S., & Potter, K. (2011, May). Bridging troubled waters: Achieving integrated partnership working in urban water management. Paper presented at IWA Conference on Cities of the Future, Sustainable Urban Planning and Water Management, Stockholm, Sweden

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: IWA Conference on Cities of the Future, Sustainable Urban Planning and Water Management
• Conference Location: Stockholm, Sweden
• Start Date: May 23, 2011
• End Date: May 25, 2011
• Acceptance Date: May 23, 2011
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: water management, sustainability, water policy, stakeholders, environmental policy, rainwater harvesting
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/962436
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : IWA Conference on Cities of the Future, Sustainable Urban Planning and Water Management