The Challenge
Understanding which pressures are responsible for negative outcomes in a water body remains one of the biggest barriers to action. Current monitoring frameworks capture multiple indicators, but linking a measurement to a specific source is often uncertain.
This challenge aims to:
- Enable the ability to apportion the source of impact (extraction, habitat, pollution)
- Automatically identify the most likely cause of negative outcomes, closing the “unknown gap”
- Increase the scientific rigour of catchment‑explorer style tools
- Improve the evidence base for targeted interventions
- Define what “good” looks like at a water‑body scale
Potential Impact
- Ability to measure and identify the specific sources of negative outcomes
- Increased capacity to design and implement targeted interventions
- Better definition of parameters that constitute good ecological status
- Stronger evidence base for investment and regulatory prioritisation
Barriers to Progress
- Ecological indicators still need to be agreed
- “Only measure what we measure” — limited indicators constrain what can be attributed
- Challenges linking a measurement directly to a source
- Need for robust modelling and validation over time
Timeframe
3 years, with the potential to run forever ongoing after initial development
Call to Action
Members are encouraged to:
- Submit ideas on methods, indicators, or models that support reactive source apportionment
- Endorse promising ideas contributed by other members
- Comment with insights on ecological indicators, modelling challenges or practical evidence needs
- Join a project team in the next stage to help design and test a scalable apportionment framework