Following on from a residency in The Faculty of Engineering in The University of Sheffield Ruth became resident artist in The Pennine Water Group based in Civil Engineering. The group focuses on the social and engineering issues of urban water management. She spent sixth months following the academics and their work, which was often in partnership with water companies.

A series of presentations in the style of a weather forecast by academics whose research focuses on urban water management. Using a large poster of a water cycle and a series of stick on cards, illustrated by Jo Salter, they describe issues surrounding water including flooding, governance, the maintenance of pipes, pollutants, farming & regulators.

Conversations with researcher Dr Liz Sharp about the image of The Water Cycle left me struck by its simplicity and made me more aware about the disparity between how we think about the cycle and the complex reality. I set about creating a new water cycle image, one in which the current day social, economic, political & environmental interactions with water were also represented and discussed. The stick on cards are designed as a way to illustrate, a tool for conversation, or a way to forecast different future scenarios.