Integrated Environmental and Economic
Accounting for Water Resources SEEAW
Alessandra Alfieri
United Nations Statistics Division
Outline
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Why the SEEAW?
How was the SEEAW developed?
For whom was the SEEAW developed?
Implementation of the SEEAW in countries
What is SEEAW?
Structure of the handbook
The SEEAW and IWRM
What is ahead?
Why the SEEAW?
• The revision of the SEEA (SEEA-2003
published by UN, Eurostat, IMF, OECD and
the WB) revealed that, while water accounts
were compiled by an increasing number of
countries, there was little harmonization of
practices
• Increased policy interest, methodological
advances and country experiences
How was the SEEAW developed?
• Outline was developed in cooperation with
Eurostat and its Task Force on water accounts and
discussed at the London Group meeting
• An Electronic Discussion Group was created by
UNSD, jointly with UNDSD, to harmonize terms
and definitions in water accounts
• Eurostat compiled pilot studies on water accounts
(2002)
• Draft chapters were discussed at LG meetings in
2003 and 2004
How was the SEEAW developed? (2)
• A Sub Group of the LG was created in 2003 to
finalize the handbook and contribute to the EDG
• May 2005, meeting of the Sub Group to review the
final draft SEEAW and agree on a set of standard
tables
• The current draft include the revisions from the Sub
Group’s meeting and the AEG recommendations
• SEEAW will be submitted for endorsement to the
UNCEEA
• Eurostat will adopt the Standard Tables for data
collection
For whom was the SEEAW
developed?
Target audience:
• Statisticians to compile an integrated information
system for integrated analysis
• Policy makers at macro-level to evaluate tradeoffs across the economy and environment
• Policy makers in line ministries taking sectoral
decisions but taking into account the big picture
• All interest groups advocating policies on the
basis of a transparent and integrated information
system.
Implementation of the SEEAW
• Worldwide about 25 countries have implemented
(part of) water accounts
• 17 developed countries (Australia, New
Zealand and 14 EU countries)
• 8 developing countries (Botswana, Chile,
Mexico, Namibia, the Philippines, South
Africa, Turkey, the Republic of Moldova)
• 3 have established the institutional arrangements
for the project (China, Dominican Republic,
Morocco)
• Several countries have shown interest in
developing SEEAW
Structure of the handbook (1)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Introduction
The water accounting framework
Part I
Chapter 3 Physical water supply and use tables
Provide physical information by industries and
households on water abstraction, use and supply
within the economy and returns in the environment
Chapter 4 Emission accounts
Provide physical information by industries and
households on emissions of substances into water
resources through wastewater discharges.
Structure of the handbook (2)
Chapter 5 Hybrid and economic accounts
Provide information on the cost associated with water
use and supply and on users fees paid.
Links between physical flows of water with the
economic accounts, financing
Chapter 6 Asset accounts
Provide information on the stock of water resources in
the environment and the changes that occur during the
accounting period (abstraction, returns, precipitation,
evapotranspitration, etc.)
Structure of the handbook (3)
Part II
Chapter 7 Quality accounts
Provide information on the quality of water in
the environment
Chapter 8 Valuation of water resources
Provides a review of valuation techniques and
their consistency with the 1993 SNA valuation.
No recommendations
Structure of the handbook (4)
Chapter 9 Examples of policy uses and
applications of water account
Provides country examples on uses of the
accounts (indicators and analysis)
Annex I Set of standard tables
Annex II Set of supplementary tables
Annex III Water accounting and water indicators
Glossary
What is the SEEAW?
• The SEEAW is a satellite system to the System
of National Accounts 
• Standard
• Uses of standard definitions, concepts,
classifications common to economic accounts
• Ideal for cross-sectoral analysis as it is rooted
in the 1993 SNA
• Indicators
Why an accounting approach?
• Encourages the adoption of standards
• Introduces accounting concepts to hydrological
information
• Improves both economic and water statistics by
encouraging consistency
• Implicitly defines ownership and hence
responsibility for environmental impacts
• Encourages the development of comprehensive data
sets
• Facilitates international comparisons
• Improves integrated analysis
Temporal and spatial issues
• Reconciliation of economic and hydrological
data
River basin vs. administrative region
Accounting vs. hydrological year
• Inclusion of temporal and spatial variability of
water in the accounts
Seasonal vs. annual accounts
Long-term water cycle
The SEEAW and IWRM
Key aspects in IWRM that can be addressed by the
SEEAW:
• Allocating water efficiently and improve
efficiency
• Understanding the impact of water management
on all users
• Getting the most value from money from
investment infrastructure
• Linking water availability to its uses
• Getting stakeholders involved in decision-making
Future work
• Methodological improvements
• Implementation and promotion
Future work (2)
Methodological improvements
• Social dimension
• Quality accounts
• Water valuation
• Data quality framework
How:
• Within the mandate of UNCEEA and LG
Future work (3)
Implementation and promotion
• Development of toolkits (country practices, training
material, promotion material, dissemination tools and
practices)
• In-depth analysis of lessons learnt from country
experiences in the implementation and use of the
SEEAW
• Promotion of the SEEAW within the users’
community at national and international level
How:
• Roundtable