Integrated Water Management (IWM) is a collaborative approach to managing land and water which mitigates the risks to people and the environment from having too much and/or too little water, as well as risks related to water pollution.
At its heart, IWM focuses on approaches which can provide integrated beneficial outcomes to more than one aspect of the water cycle including water storage, supply, demand, wastewater, flood risk, and water quality whilst also providing wider benefit to the environment and society.
It isn’t an additional ask or step in the process, but an approach / way of working that seeks to bring together and better align/coordinate existing planning mechanisms into a holistic approach to water management that better informs / enables a more joined approach to decision making, spatial policy planning and investment.
It will build on existing and proposed mechanisms including for example the delivery of the Environment Act targets (which sets out ambitions to take a more integrated approach to water planning), Local Nature Recovery Strategies, River Basin Management Plans, Flood Risk, Water Resource, and Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans.
