Knowledge Exchange Presentation on the ‘WaterWheel’ – an Innovative Tool for
Water Management by Dr John Bright from New Zealand
Notes
Presenter: Dr John Bright (Aqualinc, New Zealand)
Participants: Representatives from Defra, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission,
Cascade Consulting, Rivers Trust and AMEC
Background
The Joint Water Evidence Group (JWEG) and Defra’s Water and Flood Risk Management
team hosted a presentation and discussion by Dr John Bright looking at 'Innovative Tools for
Collaborative Water Management' known as the WaterWheel Project. Dr Bright is an
academic/consultant from New Zealand and is leading on the project.
In New Zealand, regional and local councils are responsible for setting limits on river flows,
bulk water allocation and water quality at the scales of catchment, sub-catchment and water
management zone. One of the historical key challenges from this approach was that there
was no real means for water users at a sub catchment scale to understand, and therefore
actively manage the impacts of their decisions and land management practices on both river
flow and river quality.
New Zealand have now adopted a ‘Collaborative governance approach’ where decisions on
a catchment are made and driven by the individual users in line with target standards in line
with national requirements which had to be met. There is a strong emphasis and underlying
principle that the decisions made in both Local and National domains take into consideration
economic, social, cultural and environmental effects.
The WaterWheel fills a research gap by developing a tool and process for setting limits
which balances the values of communities, and improve water use and quality at a variety of
scales.
About the WaterWheel
The WaterWheel project aims to capitalise on the power of collaborative approaches for
managing water allocation and protecting water quality. The programme was developed
through the 'Freshwater Sandpit' research planning process (sponsored by the New Zealand
government) that involved scientists from New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Europe. It
incorporates the social benefits of catchment management particularly taking into
consideration the concerns of New Zealand’s Maori tribe who have a strong influence on
land management.
The WaterWheel project aims to improve water management practices in two domains:

Policy and Planning

Individual land and water users
The distinguishing feature of this research is that it aligns and integrates institutional
behavior to improve understanding of the physical dynamics of water movement through a
given catchment and includes a process that will allow feedback between collective actions
and the meeting of environmental, social, cultural and economic states in a neat and simple
way.
The WaterWheel itself is a single, visual representation of the ‘health’ of a catchment or
water management zone with each spoke of the wheel representing an indicator of
environmental, social, cultural or economic variables. This tool is unique and innovative
because it looks at integrating social science with economics, political governance, collective
learning and environmental science. It can be used by water users at a sub-catchment level,
community groups at a catchment scale, and industry bodies (such as energy companies,
and agribusiness) and policy agents at catchment, regional and national scale.
Key Learning Points
In light of our responsibilities under WFD, this tool may be of interest and benefit to us. The
Waterwheel is an effective communications tool that shows the visual presentation of the
state of indicators.
The WaterWheel focuses:

not just on social and environmental indicators but also

includes economic indicators and the trade off between the different indicators.

highlights the range and extent of benefits from each land management/policy
decision
One of the key benefits of this tool is that it can be easily understood by a range of
audiences; and can be used to portray different scenarios and the benefits of catchment
improvements in social and/or economic terms which might not otherwise be easily shown.
No weighting has been applied to the indicators of within each spoke of the wheel and can
be adjusted to suit a UK context – see example of WaterWheel in appendix.
Next Steps
The WaterWheel was well received by attendees and those present saw it as a tool to
improve stakeholder buy –in at a catchment scale. The consensus is that there is potential
for this tool to be used for decision support in the UK.
The WaterWheel Project is ongoing and there is scope for future knowledge transfer events
between New Zealand and UK.
Contacts - For more information on JWEG, the WaterWheel Project or to contact Dr Bright
speak to the JWEG team
Stuart Kirk: stuart.kirk@environment-agency.gov.uk or stuart.kirk@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Debbie Coughlin: d.coughlin@imperial.ac.uk
EJ Ogboru: ejiroghene.ogboru@environment-agency.gov.uk
Chris Fulton: chris.fulton@environment-agency.gov.uk