Water is a critical resource for both sustainable development and environmental resilience.

WSP’s Integrated Water Management (IWM) approach offers a strategy for balancing water supply, drought and flood risk, biodiversity and water quality, ensuring that cities, communities, and infrastructure are prepared for the future. 

By bringing together stakeholders from various sectors, where there is a collaborative advantage in doing so, we create solutions that address the multifaceted challenges of managing water. Against a backdrop of a rapidly changing climate, rising weather extremes, aging infrastructure, and emerging contaminants, WSP aims to accelerate collaboration, investment, and innovation, while maximising social, economic and environmental benefits.

Integrated Water Management (IWM) is a broad concept that varies among people and organisations. At WSP, IWM is defined as a collaborative, holistic approach to water and land governance, aiming for future-ready resilience through systems thinking. It integrates environmental, economic, and social factors for coordinated and resilient water catchment management throughout the water cycle. In the UK, water management is often fragmented, with different agencies working in silos, causing inefficiencies, particularly with surface and stormwater. The hydraulic catchment does not adhere to these divisions, posing a challenge.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) integrate water management and biodiversity. Restoring natural systems like rivers and wetlands improves flood resilience, water quality, amenity and biodiversity. It’s crucial for clients to understand these interconnected benefits, as traditional approaches may overlook the added value of NBS.

By taking a natural capital approach—considering elements of the natural environment that benefit people, the economy, and society—infrastructure operators, businesses, and governments can better incorporate the value of water resources and nature into planning and decision-making. Applying natural capital thinking to Integrated Water Management strategies helps our clients understand the economic and environmental benefits delivered holistically by water resources and ecosystem restoration. This approach then allows our clients to manage associated risks, enhance biodiversity, deliver social value, and increase climate resilience.

IWM thrives with strong leadership and smart budget management.  WSP excels as a facilitator, building relationships with local authorities, water companies and other stakeholders. Acting as an integrator, WSP can own relationships with each of the stakeholders and may be the only entity with links to all of them, making it logical for WSP to take this role.   

By fostering collaboration and breaking down budgetary constraints, WSP helps stakeholders identify shared funding sources and common objectives. For IWM to work really well, there has to be excellent collaboration. WSP can be part of that, helping stakeholders to work together and acting as the catalyst.