Catchment metabolism: Integrating natural capital in the asset management portfolio of the water sector

The novelty of the work is the conceptualisation of a catchment as a complex asset system, comprising of multiple subsystems. This expands the application of Industrial Ecology and functional modelling techniques in Integrated Catchment Management and Water Accounting. The Catchment Metabolism modelling schema created in this paper serves asset, water resources and catchment management purposes. The schema forms the grounds for structured collaboration among experts for integrated water resources planning and decision-making. In this paper the process of creating the modelling schema along with the techniques used are presented. A 'live' industrial example from the UK water sector (Poole Harbour Catchment) is used to demonstrate its application.