Water governance in the United Kingdom (UK) has undergone considerable change over the last century. Whereas the management of water resources was highly localised and fragmented at the beginning of the 20th century, water policy and institutional reforms over the following decades saw the gradual emergence of a catchment-based management paradigm. The Belfast Lough and Lagan Catchment Stakeholder Group (CSG) met five times between September 2007 and the end of 2009. The roughly biannual evening meetings were hosted at different venues throughout the CSG area, and were chaired by several different Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) officials over the period. NIEA staff were apparently satisfied with the plans and measures as a basis for engagement and partnership-building, but some stakeholders were less positive. Stakeholder learning through the CSG process appears to have been limited to individuals and groups learning about how to effectively engage in Water Framework Directive (WFD) processes and specific local projects.