‘Dispelling the Myth’ was a collaborative water resources project between the Environment Agency and Groundwork Greater Manchester, supported by partners including Water Resources West, United Utilities, AHDB, England Golf and colleagues from within the Environment Agency.

Over its 3 years, the project aimed to enable conversations about water resources within the Northwest, linked to the planning and engagement activities of catchment partnerships.  A bank of resources was produced, which are freely available for all catchment partnerships and interested parties to use or adapt (please see the downloadable resources below).

Water is our most precious resource, sustaining all life and livelihoods. If all the world’s freshwater was contained in a jug, the amount available for use could be represented as a single drop. Water resources are precious across the country, including the Northwest.  Although the Northwest is a region with a reputation for plentiful rainfall, prolonged dry weather and drought can still cause problems for people and the environment, as experienced in 2018, 2020, 2022 and in the summer of 2023 and in 2025.

Pressure on our water resources and water environment is increasing. The world’s weather patterns are changing, and we are experiencing climate whiplash, oscillating between periods of extreme rainfall and prolonged dry weather/ drought. Climate change will exacerbate this situation, whilst demand will be affected by population and economic growth.  It is anticipated that without action to reduce demand or increase supply England will face a shortfall of over 4,800 million litres per day by 2050.

This is a national challenge with local implications, including for those using public and non-public water supply in their businesses.  We ALL need to play our part and recognise the need to carefully manage our individual and collective use of water, looking after every drop.

The Dispelling the Myth project offers a collection of useful tools to those who want to explore this subject and work with different stakeholders to plan evidence-based action.

A short informative video was produced to serve as an engagement tool for catchment partnerships.  It highlights the challenges faced by the region and emphasises the importance of conscious water management.

The pack includes an editable template with associated design assets and tips and a guidance document.  These can be used in conjunction with the video to bring together water resources evidence and information in a cohesive narrative, supporting stakeholder engagement and informed decision making.

Over the 3 years of the project, a comprehensive library of resources has been collated, which contains links to useful websites, documents, and more.  This Excel document provides catchment partnerships with access to a wealth of knowledge about water resources.  The document is filterable and can be edited to allow additional resources to be added, or comments about specific resources to be included.

During Dispelling the Myth Part 2, we invited Northwest catchment partnerships to access a small amount of funding to delve into water resources within their specific areas of interest. We supported 8 small-scale projects across 9 catchments. These initiatives addressed diverse aspects of water resource management, from data collection and analysis to stakeholder engagement and capacity building. To learn more about the funded projects and access the shareable resources they produced for different audiences, explore below:

During part 2, we responded to stakeholder feedback by creating engaging water resource assets, including infographics and social media posts.

In partnership with creative agency  Far’n’Beyond, we’ve developed 21 tailored assets, building upon existing designs to meet stakeholder needs. These assets aim to help partners to effectively communicate key messages about water as a precious resource, empowering users to spread awareness through their communications channels.

Download the assets and join us in spreading the word about sustainable water management.

During the project we co-developed and delivered two sessions to support understanding of water resources.

1. The “Water Resources 101” session, provides a comprehensive understanding of water management, covering laws, pressures, and stakeholder roles.

Please watch our Water Resources 101 session on YouTube

2. The Hydroecology Session, led by the Environment Agency National Hydroecology team, provides an overview of the relationship between flow and ecology and how water resources activities and abstraction can affect these.

Monitoring principles and the incorporation of hydroecology into monitoring are explored, and hydroecological data analysis / assessments are introduced.  An overview of useful tools (LIFE (Lotic-invertebrate Index for Flow Evaluation), HEV (Hydroecological validation) and the Hydroecology toolkit) is provided to support work with consultants and ecologists.  The session materials include some exercises which can be completed.

Please watch the Hydroecology session on YouTube and access the exercises and answer sheets below.

We joined with Water Resources West, AHDB and England Golf to produce sector specific water resources audit tools and test these in pilot engagement sessions.

• The session plan templates can be adapted by those who wish to engage with farms (particularly dairy focused) and golf courses to achieve sustainable water management within their businesses.
• The provided survey questions are used to understand the water resources situation and challenges of participants.
• The audit tools can be used within workshop sessions or be used by such businesses individually or working with an advisor. The audit tools provide a structured way to assess water resources and the arrive at a plan of action to address identified issues.
• To support Golf Courses to communicate their approach to managing water, an editable Club Policy document was produced.

These tools and templates can be downloaded below.

Our end of project dissemination session took place at the end of April 2025, the recording of which can be seen below, along with our End of Project report.

We hope that the outputs produced through Dispelling the Myth will inspire and support catchment partnerships to find out more about, and take action for, Water Resources.

Let’s come together to protect our most precious resource – water – today and for generations to come.

For further information about Dispelling the Myth, please contact:

Paula Pearson: paula.pearson@environment-agency.gov.uk

Laura Schofield: laura.schofield@groundwork.org.uk