SBS academics lead on national water research project
Researchers from the University of Strathclyde Business School are leading on a project funded by Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Water (CREW) which seeks to explore what future water demand looks like for Scotland.
The project, which has a total value of £115k, will explore topical areas that are likely to have a profound impact on water demand such as the emergence of new economic sectors such as decarbonisation and renewables, data centres, hydrogen manufacturing, population change and migration, and climate change.
Dr Scott J.McGrane, Department of Economics, is leading the research. He said, “The environmental impact of data centres has been at the forefront of the political discourse for some time now, while the impacts of the climate crisis are visible all around us with profound consequences. This is timely research which will determine how water is being used across the country and provide us with a clear picture of current and future demand.”
Led by Dr McGrane, the research includes colleagues from across Strathclyde Business School as well as colleagues in Civil and Environmental Engineering and external partners at the James Hutton Institute. The project will explore ways of combining economic and environmental data to determine how water is currently being consumed across Scotland. It will use economic approaches such as the development of input-output tables and the creation of satellite accounts for water consumption across all economic sectors and combine this with household consumption to gain a full picture of water demand both nationally, and regionally.
This baseline understanding will then use outputs from a participatory stakeholder workshop to identify future scenarios of change and the impacts that these changes will have on overall demand and the resultant management challenges this poses for key bodies in Scotland.
This eight-month capacity building project is a strategic piece of work that has been co-designed by the Scottish Government, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Scottish Water, and has significant impact potential for the way water is managed and regulated for both domestic and non-domestic customers alike.
Published: 2 July 2026
