The National Interdisciplinary Centre for Sustainable Water Management from the Uplands to the Open Seas has been formed as a joint initiative between the Universities of
Lancaster and
Liverpool and the
NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory.
The Centre will provide a focus for research and knowledge transfer in the management of terrestrial and marine systems in an integrated and interdisciplinary way. The novelty of the Centre will lie in treating the scientific and social issues arising in catchments, estuaries, coastal and marine waters in a fully integrated way, with a view particularly to providing proper underpinnings to water management in fulfilling the provisions of the
Water Framework Directive. We strongly believe that many issues raised by the Directive cannot be easily addressed on the basis of current knowledge and understanding and that the core institutions have the scientific expertise necessary to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. This expertise is exportable nationally and internationally.
There is an increasing recognition, in the HE sector, the Research Councils, industry and government agencies, that national-scale environmental issues will be addressed successfully only by consortial teams from all those stakeholders acting to define the issues in the correct scientific, social and economic terms. This Interdisciplinary Centre takes advantage of the complementarity of international research expertise at Lancaster, Liverpool, CEH and POL and stems from the recognition that the availability of good quality water supplies is one of the most critical global challenges that we now face.
