Around 10,000 people were expected in Glasgow for the 15th IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition. Away from the main programme, Copper, with the support of RSK, hosted two breakfast briefings. One focused on new water resources. The other on catchment resilience.
The topics were different, but the same question kept surfacing: if the sector broadly agrees on the challenges and many of the solutions, why is delivery still so difficult?
The public is ready. Are we?
The first breakfast launched Britain’s Thirsty Future, polling by Copper and BMG Research that studied public attitudes to new water resources in the UK.
The findings were clear. After the driest July on record, 74% expect summers like this to become more common and 75% are worried about future water shortages. Support for new supply is high, with reservoirs attracting 76% support, and desalination, transfers and water recycling all attracting majority support.
Trust is the weak spot. Around two-thirds believe water companies and government are not doing enough, while more than half are unwilling to pay more on their bills.
During the breakfast, discussion quickly moved beyond the numbers. Several attendees argued that the sector still talks about water as a problem to manage rather than an enabler of homes, jobs and economic growth. Others stressed the importance of informed choice, while many noted that the long timescales needed to develop new resources are rarely explained clearly.
There was broad support for a coordinated national conversation, but there remains a fundamental gap in communication.
The delivery challenge
The second breakfast turned to building sustainable catchment resilience and the role of nature-based solutions. Few doubted the value of nature-based approaches or catchment-scale thinking. The challenge to genuinely achieving long term interventions, was delivery.
Three barriers dominated the discussion.
The first was fragmented ownership. Water companies, councils, regulators, landowners and charities all hold part of the solution, but no single organisation owns the whole problem.
The second was short-term incentives. Planning cycles, regulatory periods and procurement processes can encourage delivery against targets rather than delivery against outcomes.
The third was complexity. Funding, planning and infrastructure programmes rarely align neatly, making collaboration harder than it should be.
Discussion also touched on wider reforms, including the Water Bill and potential regulatory changes. But there was little sense that organisational reform alone would solve the underlying challenge. For many in the room, the issue was less about structures than responsibility, incentives and, above all, collaboration.
The missing ingredient is trust
Taken together, the two breakfasts pointed to the same gap.
The first found a public that broadly supports new water infrastructure but does not fully trust those who will deliver it. The second found a sector that broadly agrees on what works but struggles to deliver it together.
Across both sessions, three themes emerged.
- Trust, because people need confidence before they commit
- Time, because infrastructure and relationships both take years to build, and
- Communication, because the sector too often talks in language that resonates with professionals rather than the public.
What happens next?
Policy will matter. The Water Bill, the Government’s promised 10-year plan and any future regulatory reforms will shape the context in which the sector operates.
But the discussions in Glasgow suggested that legislation alone will not bridge the gap.
The public increasingly accepts the need for change. The sector increasingly agrees on many of the solutions. The challenge is turning that agreement into action.
The debate is no longer about whether the sector needs to change. It is about how it can change together.
Want to talk engagement?
Copper Consultancy works with water sector clients on stakeholder engagement, public affairs and communications strategy. If you’re planning new water resources or catchment schemes and want to think through your approach, we’d like to talk. Get in touch with our water team at water@copperconsultancy.com.
You can read our full report, Britain’s Thirsty Future, Public Attitudes to New Water Resources, here.