How integrated water management plans could transform the way regions manage water

08 June 2026

Clare Bullen, chief executive officer of Mersey Rivers Trust, on the potential of bringing together flood risk, water quality, regeneration and climate resilience in Liverpool City Region and beyond

Liverpool is hosting CIWEM’s Flood & Coast Conference for the first time this year, and that feels significant. This is a city shaped by water: by the River Mersey, docks, canals and trade. It is also a city region living with the legacy of centuries of human intervention in rivers and coastlines. I am looking forward to taking part in a panel discussion on integrated water management plans at the conference because these plans could help tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our rivers, coasts and communities.

Integrated water management plans, or IWMPs, bring together the organisations that shape how water moves through a place, including water companies, local authorities, regulators, developers, transport bodies and communities. The idea is simple: flood risk, drought, pollution, housing growth and habitat loss do not happen in isolation, and rivers do not respect council boundaries. A decision upstream can affect communities many miles away.

An IWMP should create a shared picture of the problems in an area and a common plan to tackle them, whether that means reducing flood risk, improving river water quality, restoring wetlands, cutting sewer overflows or creating more space for nature. For the public, the test is straightforward: does the plan make rivers cleaner, reduce flood risk and create better places to live? If not, it is not working.

The idea of integrated water planning is not new, but it has become more important as climate change, ageing infrastructure, public frustration and pressure on water companies have intensified. One of the best known examples is Greater Manchester’s Integrated Water Management Plan, published in 2023. It brought together councils, utilities and environmental bodies to set out a long-term approach to flood risk, water supply, wastewater and the natural environment.

Harpurhey Reservoir and Ponds in Greater Manchester. Credit: Clare Bullen.

For hydrologists, there may seem to be a tension between managing water by political boundaries and managing it by catchment boundaries, because rivers do not stop at city-region borders. Yet Greater Manchester has shown that a place-based approach can work. Where there is political will, the place-based model has delivered progress. Mayor Andy Burnham used the convening power of the combined authority to bring organisations together and, in many ways, that has achieved more than catchment-based discussions have managed over the past decade. That lesson matters for Liverpool City Region too.

A changed landscape

The River Mersey and its tributaries have been transformed by people. Rivers that once flowed through rural landscapes around Manchester became engines of the industrial revolution. Their channels were straightened, diverted and confined, while water from the Lake District and North Wales was brought in to supply growing towns and cities. The Manchester Ship Canal, completed in 1894, changed the course of the Mersey so dramatically that, in places, the original river was almost erased.

Today, we are dealing with a water environment that has been heavily modified for centuries, where many rivers are disconnected from their floodplains, habitats have been lost and climate change is bringing more intense rainfall, rising sea levels and longer dry periods. That is why integrated planning matters so much in the Mersey catchment.

Liverpool City Region’s integrated water management work already points in the right direction because it brings together flood risk, water quality, regeneration and climate resilience rather than treating them as separate issues. There is also a strong focus on sustainable drainage systems and nature-based solutions. Too much rainwater still goes straight into overloaded sewers, increasing flood risk and worsening pollution. Greener streets, wetlands, rain gardens and restored rivers can all help slow the flow of water. Liverpool also has the chance to build on Greater Manchester’s example. Given the long-standing rivalry between the two cities, there is every reason to think that the mayor, Steve Rotheram, will want Liverpool’s plan to go further still.

Five things IWMPs need to succeed

• Catchment partnerships must be treated as equal delivery partners, not consultees.
• Integrated water management plans need long-term funding certainty rather than project-by-project survival.
• Nature-based solutions must be built in from the start, not added later.
• Communities must be part of governance, not just recipients of risk maps.
• Success must be measured not only in flood metrics, but also in river health, adaptation capacity and social resilience.

Jo Harrison of United Utilities spoke about Greater Manchester’s IWMP at Flood & Coast in 2024, so this year’s conference offers a chance to reflect on what has changed since then and what lessons can be applied in Liverpool.

Mersey Rivers Trust has already been closely involved in the Greater Manchester plan through the Upper Mersey Catchment Partnership. Alongside other catchment partnerships and environmental organisations, we have helped facilitate discussions, build relationships and push for funding that can deliver improvements on the ground. That experience shapes how we approach Liverpool. One lesson from Greater Manchester is that these plans only work when all the right people are in the room. Catchment partnerships, local communities and environmental organisations cannot be treated as an afterthought; they need to be embedded from the start.

At Mersey Rivers Trust, we focus on four priorities: raising awareness, building evidence through citizen science, delivering nature-based solutions and collaborating with partners. Those principles should sit at the heart of any IWMP because they help connect strategy with practical delivery.

What lies ahead

The next step may already be on the horizon. Cheshire is due to become a combined authority next year and has already shown interest in developing its own IWMP. That is encouraging because it suggests these plans are beginning to create momentum beyond single places. In time, Greater Manchester may update its plan, Liverpool will refine its approach and Cheshire will develop its own model. That cycle of learning and improvement is exactly what the sector needs.

Beyond the North West, other combined authorities are starting to move in a similar direction, even if they are not yet calling it an integrated water management plan. The West Midlands is increasingly talking about place-based strategies that bring together housing, transport, infrastructure and climate resilience. The North East Combined Authority faces many of the same pressures around flood risk, estuaries, water quality and regeneration. This matters because it suggests that IWMPs could become part of a wider shift in how regions manage water.

If Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and Cheshire all develop their own IWMPs, that would give us something the sector has often lacked: a practical example of how regional planning, catchment partnerships and local delivery can work together in the real world. CIWEM’s A Fresh Water Future report makes a similar point. It argues that future water management needs stronger collaboration, more local accountability and greater use of nature-based solutions.

From my perspective, integrated water management plans are most powerful when they stop being policy documents and become delivery plans. As Mersey Rivers Trust, we are already involved in two of these plans and preparing for a third, which gives us a clear view of what works, what is hard and what still needs to change. The plans that succeed will be the ones that genuinely empower communities, rivers trusts, local authorities and water companies to work together. Catchment partnerships must be treated as core delivery partners rather than optional extras. They also need long-term funding certainty, stronger community involvement and nature-based solutions built in from the start. Otherwise, there is a danger that integrated water management plans become glossy brochures rather than engines of change.

I hope this year’s Flood & Coast Conference in Liverpool will help move that conversation forward. It is an important opportunity to learn from Greater Manchester, shape Liverpool’s future approach and think about what comes next for Cheshire and beyond. Liverpool is a place with a remarkable water story. The Mersey catchment helped drive the industrial revolution. Now it could help shape a new model for managing water in a changing climate.

The challenge is not writing another strategy. The challenge is turning ambition into cleaner rivers, healthier habitats and communities that are better protected from flood and drought. That is what success should look like.

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Clare Bullen will be taking part in the panel discussion ‘How Integrated Water Management Plans unlock sustainable growth’ on day two of Flood & Coast 2026.

This article appeared in the Spring 2025 print edition of The Environment. Become a member of CIWEM today to gain access to the quarterly magazine, as well as digital access via MyCIWEM. Non-members can also access the monthly The Environment digital newsletter.

Clare Bullen is chief executive officer at Mersey Rivers Trust