**1. Introduction**

Watershed or catchment management encompasses a complex tapestry of multistakeholder interests and water rights, cultural and historical norms, uncertainty of open system processes, and economic and environmental change [1, 2]. Moreover, the technical challenges to delivering across multiple objectives are significant. These include management of hydraulic structures, calibration of hydrological models of acceptable accuracy and precision, the need for real time or forecasted data streams and understanding of impacts of water management actions on ecosystems. A range of approaches has developed in recent years that aim to provide an integrated, consultative approach to natural resource management, among which

**Figure 1.**

*Lunan water catchment. The upper catchment is delineated by the white line.*

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) has emerged as a promising approach [3, 4]. PES schemes have been envisaged as an efficient way to ensure the provision of local public goods, such as water [5, 6]. Such schemes have the potential to increase the availability of ecosystem services for beneficiaries, whilst compensating the providers of such services. Examples of successful PES schemes with a focus on water include the Vittel water catchment area in France [7] and the "Upstream Thinking" scheme in SW England [5]. However, some aspects of catchment water management, such as the widely distributed and ill-defined benefits, and legacy issues, can undermine local participation and willingness to pay [3, 7].

This chapter outlines the evolution of an engineered water management strategy ("Water for All") for the Lunan Water catchment area, Angus, Scotland (see **Figure 1**). The project originally envisioned alleviation of winter flooding in the upper catchment, summer low flows and water shortages in the lower catchment, and nutrient/sediment pollution in wetland areas, to be managed as a PES scheme through local management and funding. The key engineered element was the introduction of remotely managed hydraulic controls (e.g. a tilting weir) to deliver the envisioned benefits.

Integrated analysis was made up of three main components:


*The Challenges of Managing Water for Wetland Ecology, Flood Mitigation and Agriculture… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98727*

mixing behaviour of water from the river with other sources contributing to the wetlands, using End Member Mixing Analysis [9];

• Governance and stakeholder analysis focused on regular engagement through a stakeholder group (Lunan Catchment Management Group, which was set up at the start of the project in 2017), a survey of Willingness to Pay (WTP) for the tilting weir option, and interviews discussing the uncertainties and governance gaps that might impede implementation.
