Rethinking Water in an Age of Complexity

Water is the invisible thread running through our economy - powering production, cooling data centres, enabling housing growth, feeding energy systems, and sustaining communities. Yet it is also one of the most undervalued. While carbon has become the universal metric of climate progress, water often remains a missing pillar of sustainability and economic resilience.

This matters because the risks are now systemic.

Across England, climate change, population growth, ageing infrastructure and rising demand are converging into a structural challenge that no single sector can solve alone. The issue is not just environmental - it is economic, financial, and social. When water becomes scarce, its absence ripples through supply chains, constrains development, and undermines regional prosperity.

Addressing this challenge demands more than incremental efficiency. It requires a systems lens: one that connects the flows of water with the flows of finance, policy, and decision-making. Only by embedding water into the same strategic frameworks that guide investment, planning, and growth can we build resilience at scale.

The Scale of the Challenge

England faces a projected public water supply shortfall of around five billion litres per day by 2055 - roughly one-third of today’s usage. Demand is rising fast, with a further billion litres a day expected to be needed by mid-century to support food, energy and technology sectors.

The consequences are already being felt:

• Several regions, particularly in the East and South East, are already classed as seriously water-stressed.

• In parts of the East of England, utilities have introduced moratoria on new business connections until supply can be secured.

• Development pipelines for housing and commercial property are increasingly contingent on demonstrating “water-neutral” growth.

• Businesses dependent on secure water supplies - from food producers to data centres - are reassessing expansion plans or relocating operations.

These are not isolated examples; they are early indicators of a structural economic constraint. Water scarcity is shaping where and how regions can grow. It is influencing planning approvals, investment flows, and business confidence - and yet it still sits largely outside the mainstream conversation on growth, finance, and resilience.

From Environmental Issue to Economic Imperative

Despite growing awareness of the risks, water remains under-integrated in strategic decision-making - too often treated as an environmental or infrastructure concern rather than a core element of business continuity and economic planning. Three interconnected gaps continue to hold back systemic action:

• Narrative disconnect: water is rarely integrated into the net-zero or economic growth discourse, despite being a critical enabler of both.

• Incentive disconnect: traditional price-based arguments are too weak to change behaviour at scale; what’s needed are financial and governance mechanisms that reward resilience.

• Planning disconnect: water security remains too marginal in spatial and investment strategies, even though scarcity constrains development.

To bridge these gaps, we need to connect environmental limits to market signals, and ensure that the value of water is recognised not only in environmental policy but in boardrooms, balance sheets and regional economic plans.

Pathways to Water Resilience: A Systems-Led Blueprint for Change

Pathways to Water Resilience is a collaborative initiative bringing together FinTech West, Waterwise, the University of the West of England’s Sustainable Economies Research Group, the University of Surrey, Solas Collective, MOSL and other partners to create the UK’s first systems-led, regional playbook for water resilience.

This partnership is designed to bridge the gap between water management and economic strategy - building a shared framework for how business, finance and policy can work together to secure long-term water and economic resilience.

Phase One: Building the Foundations for Change

The first six months of Pathways to Water Resilience will focus on establishing the foundations for systemic change - generating the insight, partnerships and design concepts that underpin the regional playbook.

Baseline Research & Mapping
We will conduct a regional water demand analysis, aggregating data on where and how water is used across the economy (by sector and geography). Business surveys and interviews will gauge awareness, attitudes, and behaviours, helping to identify the incentive structures that most influence decision-making.

Stakeholder Workshops
A series of facilitated workshops and roundtables will bring together businesses, investors, policymakers and experts to explore findings, test hypotheses, and co-design practical solutions. This cross-sector dialogue will surface new collaborations and shared priorities for action.

Pilot Intervention Designs
Using the insights and ideas from research and co-creation, the team will begin designing a set of pilot interventions - such as finance-linked incentives, transparency tools, or behavioural campaigns. Each pilot will include an outline of how it could be implemented and which partners are interested in trialling it in the next phase.

Strategic Report
All insights and plans from Phase 1 will be synthesised into a strategic report presenting the business case for water resilience, the system findings, and a roadmap of solutions (including pilot concepts). This report will act as the blueprint for the regional playbook and the programme plan for moving into implementation (Phase 2).

The Strategic Report will be publicly launched to galvanise wider engagement and attract investment. By the end of the first six months, the partnership will have built the evidence base and networks needed to pursue major innovation and funding opportunities such as Ofwat’s Water Efficiency Fund, UKRI, or DEFRA.

This is business-led rather than utility-led. It focuses on the actors who use, fund, and influence water - enabling them to align incentives, financing, and behaviours in a way that strengthens both environmental sustainability and economic performance.

Why the West of England?

The programme begins in the West of England — not because it faces the most acute water scarcity, but because it offers the strongest foundations for innovation and leadership.

The region combines:

• A diverse economic base spanning advanced manufacturing, financial services, technology, and creative industries.

• A strong culture of collaboration across academia, business, and local government.

• Existing regional commitments to net zero, climate adaptation, and inclusive growth, led by the West of England Combined Authority.

By developing and testing the approach here, the partnership aims to build a proactive model rather than a reactive one - demonstrating how a region can integrate water into its growth strategy before scarcity becomes crisis. The resulting playbook will be scalable across the UK, supporting other regions to adapt the model to their own contexts.

Why Engagement Matters — Three Lenses of Opportunity

1. Corporate Partners: Turning Responsibility into Strategic Advantage

Corporate sponsorship of Pathways to Water Resilience offers more than reputation enhancement - it is an investment in continuity, innovation, and influence.
Participating companies will:

• Demonstrate visible leadership on ESG, climate adaptation, and regional prosperity.

• Gain early insight into the data, findings and frameworks shaping future disclosure and reporting standards.

• Shape the development of finance-linked incentives and tools that can directly inform corporate governance and investor engagement.

• Be recognised as co-designers of a nationally significant initiative, aligning brand values with tangible impact on the ground.

• Contribute to a model that strengthens supply-chain resilience and long-term economic stability across the region.

2. Financial Institutions and Investors: Redefining Value and Risk

Finance is one of the most powerful levers for change. Investors and lenders are increasingly integrating nature and water risk into ESG frameworks, but the market lacks consistent regional data and practical mechanisms for alignment.

Through this initiative, the finance community can:

• Explore how sustainability-linked loans, impact investment vehicles, and disclosure frameworks can accelerate water-smart behaviour.

• Access robust insights on the economic value of resilience to inform lending, valuation, and reporting practices.

• Shape emerging taxonomy and reporting standards that reward adaptive, low-risk business models.

• Position financial institutions as enablers of sustainable regional growth, not just evaluators of risk.

3. Policymakers and Regional Authorities: Embedding Water in Economic Strategy

For local and regional governments developing Spatial Development Strategies (SDS) and economic plans, water resilience is fast becoming a foundational issue. This programme provides an opportunity to:

• Integrate water availability and risk into long-term planning for housing, transport, and infrastructure.

• Use the findings to inform regional adaptation, investment and funding bids aligned with national frameworks such as Ofwat’s Innovation Fund and DEFRA’s adaptation strategies.

• Build evidence and tools to support cross-sector coordination, enabling consistent, water-literate decision-making.

• Strengthen investor confidence by signalling that resource resilience underpins regional competitiveness.

A Shared Call to Leadership

Every business, institution and region depends on reliable access to water. When that access falters, productivity, housing delivery, and investment suffer. By integrating water into the same strategic conversation as energy, carbon and finance, we can convert risk into resilience - and resilience into opportunity.

Pathways to Water Resilience offers the mechanism to do just that: a collaborative, evidence-driven programme that connects the dots between environmental reality and economic strategy.

The partnership is now seeking early sponsors and strategic stakeholders to help mobilise its foundation phase - building the knowledge, frameworks, and partnerships needed to secure the UK’s long-term water resilience.

Because if water risk can halt economies, water resilience can power them.
Now is the time to make water not a constraint on growth, but a cornerstone of it.