Drinking water from a landscape perspective

Project approach

The Waterwijs project ‘Drinking water from a landscape perspective’ is being carried out within the thematic groups Sources, Water System and Nature, and Environment and Transitions. The aim is to optimise collaboration and knowledge sharing between these groups. This study therefore focuses on a perspective that complements ongoing research. It will draw on knowledge developed in recently completed and parallel studies, which focus primarily on the physical and hydrological perspective. This project instead examines other landscape perspectives and the role they can play in area-based processes. The research centres on three key questions:

• From which perspectives, in addition to the physical perspective, can a water landscape be considered?
• How can different landscape perspectives be used to better integrate drinking water and/or other functions into the water landscape?
• How can changes to the water system resulting from the integration of drinking water into multifunctional water landscapes be sustainably safeguarded in both the short and long term, taking the different landscape perspectives into account?

The project investigates how landscape perspectives can contribute to creating combinations of functions involving multiple actors within the water landscape, and to developing a water landscape that meets the objectives associated with its different functions, both now and in the future. The physical and hydrological perspective on a water landscape forms the basis, but considerable research into this perspective has already been carried out, or is currently under way, within the context described above. This study therefore focuses specifically on other landscape perspectives, such as social, ecological, economic, governance and legal, and spatial characteristics. In this way, the different landscapes and the relationships between them will be mapped. This will also provide insight into stakeholder relationships, including those involving competent authorities and other stakeholders.

On this basis, two suitable case studies will be selected and characterised using insights from practice and the literature. A prerequisite for selecting a case study is that the physical and hydrological perspective has already been mapped. The selection will therefore focus primarily on cases from related studies that address this perspective. For each case study, practical courses of action will also be developed in as concrete a form as possible, showing how the different landscape perspectives can be used to better position drinking water and/or other functions within the water landscape.

Outputs

1. An overview of the distinguishing characteristics relevant to a landscape perspective on the water landscape, focusing on social, ecological, economic, governance and legal, and other spatial characteristics.
2. Two detailed case studies, including definitions of the different landscape perspectives on the water landscape within each case, practical examples and an assessment of their impact on the water landscape.
3. Insight into how landscape perspectives can contribute to finding solutions to complex spatial challenges and how the drinking water function can be more effectively embedded in environmental and spatial planning strategies.
4. The development of locally applicable and/or more general practical courses of action for environmental managers at drinking water companies, enabling them to contribute to the development of water landscapes in which drinking water is an important function.
5. Recommendations for further research.

Wherever possible, the project will make use of existing tools. The design and development of the case studies will be aligned with the stage of the area-based process that each case has reached, so that the work makes a genuine contribution to the ongoing process. For each case, an assessment will therefore be made of which previously developed tools can be used to help move the process forward. This will provide added value both for the drinking water company involved and for the other parties participating in the process.