Water in London: Scoping the Health and Wellbeing Elements of a London Water Centre

Transdisciplinary workshop and systematic review to ensure that the health and wellbeing aspects of water are embedded in the work of a planned London Water Centre

11 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals are water-related, covering issues such as water supply, sanitation, freshwater and the oceans. For the World Economic Forum in 2019 water features in three of the top four most likely and most impactful risks to the global economy. One of these is simply stated as 'water crises'. For the UK: water is a component of several of the top risks in the 2017 Climate Change Risk Assessment; industries that are directly dependent on water contribute about 20% of the UK's Gross Value Added; the UK Water Partnership are keen to grow the UK's share of the global water market based on research-led innovation in several key sectors. The global spend needed to maintain and develop water systems could be $8tn by 2050. The global market in water goods and services exceeded £500bn in the mid 2010s.

London Water Centre

A London Water Centre would link a multidisciplinary community of experts across several London institutions, united by a mission of generating transformative research which, over time, shifts the global perspective from water as an essential resource that is often still under-appreciated to water as a fundamental agent of change whose value is widely recognised and use is sustainable.