Stream Advisory Group 1 (Market and User Needs) February Meeting Summary

In February, we brought together Stream’s Advisory Group 1 (Market & User Needs) which comprises subject matter experts from 16 water companies and other industry stakeholders. Co-chaired by Icebreaker One, Northumbrian Water and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, this group advises and supports the project partners as they commence work on Stream’s Implementation Phase. 

Date: 27th February 2025 11:30-13:00 BST

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Melissa Tallack (NWL); Charlotte Hillenbrand (IB1); Justin Doran (Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water)

Secretariat: IB1

Summary:

• The CReDO project was presented to members and it was noted that the project:
  • presents the opportunity to understand how water assets may fail due to climate change, and further how sharing data across the water sector, and between sectors, will support the development of a comprehensive approach to the protection of key infrastructure assets.
  • hopes to work with Stream to ensure data structures are consistent and can be included in the CReDO platform.
  • would like to be positioned as Stream’s “cross-sector, shared data use case” to achieve critical data sharing that builds on Streams Trust Framework approach.
• The CatchOps project, focussed on changing the way catchments are viewed, was presented to members and it was noted that: 
  • the project is looking at demonstrating operational workflows in the field, across multiple organisations, against the backdrop of addressing environmental harm across catchments.
  • the project is ambitious and has been broken down into different capability areas for catchments to be managed, one of which being data driven decision making and data sharing across sectors.
  • the outcomes of embedding standard workflows and procedures will be connected to environmental benefits and the implementation of Nature Based Solutions. 
  • The members were asked the question – “If there is a wave of legislative change and policy that will govern the integrated management of catchments, how do we today start to understand what different catchments and their operational remits look like?”

• It was noted that synergies should be seen between CatchOps and the catchment use case Stream is working on, with demand on the same data resulting in the potential for a cross-sector shared use case
• The Q2 OKRs for the ecosystem and use cases and datasets pillars were discussed in two breakout groups with a focus on the questions: 
  • Are we making enough progress?
  • Have we missed anything?
  • Do we need to be bringing anything forward to reach our achievement states by the end of 2025?
• The ecosystem pillar breakout group discussed: 
  • whether a quiz is the right way of measuring success and if there are alternative ways to do this.
  • building trust in Stream’s values by sharing these on the website, it being noted to add a Call to Action to the website asking members to share how they are using data in interesting ways and subsequently sharing these stories
  • gaining additional input for the newsletter and Q2 comms plan to reach the 10% general awareness OKR.
• The use cases and datasets pillar breakout group discussed being mindful of the capacity of different companies when releasing more datasets, and it was noted that time is needed to publish these datasets

Next meeting date: 3rd April 2025

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat, and are confidential to the Advisory Group members.