Catchment Systems Thinking

Catchment Systems Thinking is United Utilities’ approach to managing catchments in a holistic, integrated manner. As a custodian of the natural environment, with 56,000 hectares of land in the North West, United Utilities have applied catchment based approaches on our land to deliver environmental and water quality improvements for many years. We want to continue to manage water in a holistic manner to understand the impact of our activities on the environment more broadly.

The Catchment Systems Thinking approach encourages us to think differently and goes beyond our catchment land to look at the wider environment. Key elements of the Catchment Systems Thinking approach includes incorporating natural capital decision making to consider what is best for the environment, customers and communities by integrating risks and driving multiple natural capital benefits, and developing better ways of working through co-governance, collaboration and partnerships.