Just how different are stakeholder group opinions on water management issues?

Whilst the argument for extending the constituency of consultees on water management is now widely accepted, further understanding is required of how the process of participatory planning and management can best be structured and facilitated. The research reported here addresses an important feature of these debates by asking to what extent the views of stakeholder groups on significant features of participative planning processes and water management issues actually vary? A questionnaire based survey of four stakeholder groups (Regulators, Water Managers, Researchers, and Customers; N = 153) was conducted and Pearson chi-square and one way ANOVA measures were used to identify significant differences between the four stakeholder groups’ responses. The findings demonstrate that different stakeholder groups do not represent polarised positions regarding (a) preferences for water policy mechanisms, (b) preferred degrees of public involvement in participatory management, or (c) attitudes towards sources of information. The discussion focuses on the implications for designing and managing participatory planning activities.

Our opening research question asked whether the views of stakeholder groups on significant features of participative planning processes and water management issues can be said to vary significantly. There appears to be much common ground between the respondent groups on issues of significance for water resources management and the extent to which there is no significant dif- ference between stakeholder group attitudes should attracts attention. There appear to be substantial areas of debate around which the opinions of groups of stakeholders are undistinguishable. Only further research will confirm the veracity and reliability of these findings. However, if upheld, the implications are significant: In particular with regard to the design and management of participatory planning activities. The effectiveness of participatory processes in resource management have had mixed results and is a cause for concern among both practitioners and potential adopters. While there have been efforts to elicit and document the attitudes of the public regarding the management of water as a resource, less is known about their expectations regarding participatory planning and their engagement in the process. The views of the professional stakeholders directly engaged in making decisions regarding water resource management can also be rather obscure and under researched. A better understanding of viewpoints and expectations, not only of the public but of all the participants (therefore including the professional actors), regarding their engagement in a participatory planning event may further our understanding. We agree with many previous statements about the usefulness of eliciting and characterising the nature and extent of variation between different stakeholders viewpoints and expectations. Without such information, ‘policymakers must rely on an intuitive understanding of why people support, oppose or are unsure’ [26, p. 893]. Our research does suggest however, that we should not assume that stakeholder ‘groups’ necessarily have divergent views on key issues.