The Water Cycle

The Water Cycle 
Throughout the Valuing Nature in Business school the freshwater industry was hailed for being the champions of valuing natural capital. For the water industry there are clear economic reasons to value nature and invest in green infrastructure and the research has been done, to some extent! There is a drive to move from green to grey with infrastructure, like having extensive reed bed to filter water instead of biological treatment inside a concrete structure. As a freshwater fish biologist, I’ve been aware of pharmaceuticals entering our water streams and affecting nature from contraceptives to antidepressants. Ruth Barden at Wessex Water told us about a novel solution they were working on with the NHS clinical commissioning group in their region to enable green prescriptions instead of antidepressants where possible. The links between mental health and wellbeing with nature and enjoying wildlife have been demonstrated by research and there continues to be a growing body of evidence in this field. This could be a wonderful cyclic solution to using nature to make people happier and healthier and in turn stemming the flow of pollution into nature. 

Let’s value our rivers because they make us happy, they feed us, we can drink them, we can travel on them, they can protect our infrastructure, they provide us with hobbies, they hold biodiversity and we need them.