UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue
Water Accounting – A Tool for Integrated Water
Resource Management?
(CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006)
Water accounts: expectations
and contribution of the
European Environment Agency
Pr. Jacqueline McGlade
Executive Director
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Water
‘…then once more, and with extreme
swiftness, it mounts again and returns by
the same descent, thus rising from the
inside to the outside, and going round
from the lowest to the highest, from
whence it rushes down in a natural
course. Thus by these two movements
combined in a constant circulation, it
travels through the veins of the earth.’
Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks, 965.
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
The EEA is...
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An independent information provider
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An analyst and assessor
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Building bridges between science and policy
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Dependent upon strong networks to carry out
its work
 ...to support policy processes and inform the
public
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Working together inEurope
http://dataservice.eea.eu.int/seis
http://dataservice.eea.eu.int/wise
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Water is
• a component - flowing in rivers, mains
and bodies…
• a system - hydrological
• a service - to economic production and
ecological and human well being
• and a threat to all of these when scarce
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
The Raft
a metaphor of stability and resilience
for measuring environmental components,
systems, services and threats www.resalliance.org
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
The Raft -1
• When empty, the raft is stable and
capable of delivering a transport service
• The raft is resilient and can easily
accommodate loads – people or goods –
without being under threat.
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
The Raft- 2
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The resilient raft can accommodate some
loads, keeping enough stability
But when the load is excessive, the raft
is less capable to adapt - it starts sinking
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
The Raft- 3
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When the resilience of the raft is low, the risk of
flipping is high, at any time
The unstable raft is threatened not only by an
additional significant load but by the position of
any new load even when small
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
The Raft- 4
The objectives of the passengers of the raft
may be different e.g.
• traders who want to carry as many goods
as possible (even with risk)
• passengers who are concerned with their
personal safety (not too much load)
Trade offs between social groups will
determine the final degree of stability of the
system
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Water accounts and the raft
metaphor
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various aspects of water systems should
be addressed in water accounts
interactions between components of the
water system should be traceable - accounts as one input to integrated
modelling
interactions between water and other
ecosystems should be reflected
long term/broad scale trends matter as
much as local configurations and short
term processes
water systems are part of a socioecoological system
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Integration of information on water, biodiversity
& human well-being: space & time distributions
Water body restructuring,
dams
Hydromorphic change
Species dynamics
Water stress
Available water resource
Wetland
vulnerability to
pollution
Condition of Water
ecosystems
Water quality, quality
Habitats state and dynamics
Fish decline
of the rivers, lakes
Quality of coastal & marine
Condition of terrestrial
water
ecosystems
Fragmentation of habitats
Quality of groundwater
Loss in buffering
Landscape diversity
capacities
Bird
Water
Waste water
drainage
Wetland
decline
stress
discharge
Biodiversity of
Loss of
Eutrophication
Water
agrosystem
natural/ semiabstraction
natural land
Flooding
Forest management
Drainage
Soil degradation
fertilizers
&
Pesticides
Loss of amenities (tourism)
leakage to rivers,
sea
Urban sprawl
Introduced species
Irrigation
Transport networks
Pesticides & fertilizers use
Conversion of marginal land
Water use
Intensification of agriculture
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
SEEA: Water accounts do cover many
aspects, all are important
Ecosystem accounts
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Services &
Natural assets
accounts
European Water Framework Directive
integrates policies
in order to:
• Prevent deterioration and enhance status
of aquatic ecosystems, including
groundwater;
• Promote sustainable water use;
• Reduce pollution; and
• Contribute to the mitigation of floods and
droughts.
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
The WFD covers in particular
• regulatory regimes incl. charging
schemes
• river basin characterisation
• monitoring and classification
• river basin management planning
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
The EEA is both user & producer of
water accounts
• User for integrated assessment:
framework for integrating socio-economic
variables (supply & use, emissions, costs)
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WFD
Biodiversity 2010 (SEBI2010)
Climate Change
Agri-environment
• Producer of ecosystem accounts:
rivers, lakes, wetlands, coastal sea…
• Collector of primary data: EIONET,
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Environment Agencies, GMES/GEOSS
Institutional partner of Eurostat and JRC
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Accounts can contribute to key
environmental policy questions
1. Cost of environmental protection  the “burden” issue
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Cost for public budgets: financing of protection (incl. administration and
research)
Cost for companies: effects on economic competitiveness
2. Environmental performance of the economy  the
“decoupling” issue
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Compliance to national emission standards, respect of international
conventions
Distances to targets, economic and technological options
Use of scarce resource
Sustainability of consumption patterns
3. Cost of insufficient environmental protection  the
“externalities” issue
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Depletion of renewable resources (forest, fisheries, water…)
Degradation of natural assets (forests, fisheries, soil, water,
ecosystems…)
Impacts on human health and well being
Costs of remediation (instead of protection…)
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Accounts can contribute to key
environmental policy questions
4. Assessment of policies  the
“effectiveness/efficiency” issue
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Efficiency/effectiveness of environmental policies and instruments
Efficiency/effectiveness of environmental sector policies (agriculture,
transport…)
Environmental impact assessment of social and economic policies
Incorporation of environmental concerns in the multiple levels of
public and private decision-making (participation, awareness,
corporate accounting)
5. Conservation of comparative advantages  the
“natural capital” issue
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Reserves (ownership, access, operation)
Economic rents on natural resources (depletion…)
Viability of living/cycling natural capital, continuity of ecosystem
services
Adaptability to change (global market, climate change, technology)
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
EEA’s expectations from water
accounts
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Fair description of water stocks & flows and
water ecosystem services (direct and indirect)
• Possibility of bridging the physical water
accounts to the National Accounts
• Possibility of connecting water accounts to land
use and ecosystems at the appropriate space &
time scales
• A gateway to social statistics (consumption
behaviour, access to clean water, health,
seasonal migrations)
expectations to the statistical system
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
EEA’s expectations from the statistical
system
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Expenditure:
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Water protection & resource management
By sectors & by industries
By regions (administrative, river basin districts &
functional river basins)
Regular updates, international comparisons
Supply & Use
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By sectors & by industries
By regions (administrative, river basin districts &
functional river basins)
Regular updates, international comparisons
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
EEA’s contribution to water accounts
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Assets accounts and circulating resource:
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Water systems state (health, fragmentation…) and
ecosystem services
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Sub-systems (rivers, canals, reservoirs & lakes, topsoil
reserve, aquifers, snow & ice, sea): delineation, monitoring,
sampling, assimilation & modelling of water flows
Mass flows: sediments, N, P (by hydrological units)
General quality of rivers and lakes
Biological quality
Fragmentation (dams…)
Particular attention to small rivers
Relation of inland water systems to other ecosystems
(wetlands, coastal waters)
Emissions to water, N & P surplus calculation , pesticides
Time and space integration
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Variability assessment (meteo, run off, temporarily flooded
areas)
GIS data assimilation
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006
Water Data Centre at the EEA: a resource
for water accounting for Europe in WISE
• need for agreed accounting units,
compatible with WFD and SEEA, matching
basic requirements of integrated spatial
assessments of ecosystems and land use
(e.g. ‘accounting catchments’, ‘elementary
hydrological units’, ‘river reaches’, ‘water
bodies’, ‘river basin districts’)
• need for appropriate geographical details
(in particular for sampling monitoring data
and reporting on socio-economic local data)
• need for appropriate periodicity (quarterly)
for detecting water stress
UNSD/UNCEEA
User-Producer Dialogue on Water Accounting
CBS – Voorburg - The Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006