Catchment metabolism: Integrating natural capital in the asset management portfolio of the water sector

• Published in: Journal of cleaner production Vol. 142; pp. 1994 - 2005
• Main Authors: Papacharalampou, Chrysoula, McManus, Marcelle, Newnes, Linda B., Green, Dan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 20.01.2017
• Subjects: Asset management; Natural capital; Poole Harbour Catchment; Regional input output analysis; Resilience; Water sector; Water sector; Asset management; Poole Harbour Catchment; Natural capital; Regional input output analysis; Resilience
• ISSN: 0959-6526; 1879-1786
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.11.084

The policy of the water sector demands integrated and resilient asset management. The majority of current research focuses on urban or community asset systems. To provide a fully integrated approach, one needs to delineate the focus of asset management at a catchment scale, to include the natural capital. The research described in this paper introduces such an approach, with the Environmental Regional Input-Output (E-RIO) analysis at its core. The novelty of the work is the conceptualisation of a catchment as a complex asset system, comprising of multiple subsystems. This expands the application of Industrial Ecology and functional modelling techniques in Integrated Catchment Management and Water Accounting. The Catchment Metabolism modelling schema created in this paper serves asset, water resources and catchment management purposes. The schema forms the grounds for structured collaboration among experts for integrated water resources planning and decision-making. In this paper the process of creating the modelling schema along with the techniques used are presented. A ‘live’ industrial example from the UK water sector (Poole Harbour Catchment) is used to demonstrate its application.