Training Course on Water Accounting
Amman, Jordan
10-13 March 2008
Michael Vardon
United Nations Statistics Division
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•
Audience for indicators
•
Relationship of environment to economy
•
Pressure-State-Response (Driving forces)
• Key questions
•
Indicators
• Characteristics
•
SEEAW indicators
• SEEAW supplementary tables and information
•
Communication and analysis
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Public
Politicians
Researchers
Indicators
Accounting
SNA, SEEA, SEEAW
Policy Makers
Strategic planners
Micro data
Indicators are part of communicating information
3

Need to communicate complex information about the relationships between the environment and the economy
•
Environment provides
•
Economic resources to production process (e.g. minerals, timber, water, energy)
•
Non-economic resources to production process as well as other uses for mankind
•
Environment receives wastes from the economy
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A model of the relationships between the environment and economy: Pressure – State – Response
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Concerns over the level impact the economy is having on environment
•
Depletion of natural resource
(e.g. oil, forests, biodiversity)
•
Degradation of natural resources (e.g. air and water pollution)
•
Potentially catastrophic effects
(e.g. climate change)
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•
Are environmental endowments being used responsibly.
•
Is their use posing a treat to economic development now?
•
Will their unchanged use into the future pose future threats?
•
Who benefits from use, who bares the cost of use?
What indicators can help answer the questions, simply and accurately?
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•
Much of the information needed to address these questions can be drawn from the standard SEEAW tables
• To answer some questions additional information is needed. In some cases the standard tables can be expanded to include more detailed industry breakdowns or a lower level of geographic reference (e.g. province instead of state)
• Some of these data can be drawn from the supplementary SEEAW tables
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•
SEEAW identified 12 supplementary tables
•
Most are expansions of the standard tables or re-presentations of some of the data in the standard tables (e.g. the matrix of flows within the economy)
•
Two new tables are added
•
Water quality accounts
•
Social indicators – Access to water and sanitation (the MDG indicators)
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The international recommendations for water statistics currently being drafted by the UN will include other data items, not included in the water accounts
•
The additional data items will support indicators as well as help in the production of the water accounts and the analysis of data in the water accounts
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Characteristics of indicators
• Focus on outcomes
• Have an unambiguous 'good' direction
• Be supported by timely data of good quality
• Be available as a time series
• Be sensitive to changes
• Be summary in nature;
• Be capable of disaggregation
• Be interpreted easily by the general reader.
Adapted from Measures of Australia’s Progress 2002 http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/aa16f6e99c3078bfca256bdc001223f6!OpenDocument
.
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Official list of MDG indicators after the 2007 revision http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/OfficialList.htm
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
7.4 Proportion of total water resources used
NEW INDICATOR
7.7 Proportion of population using an improved drinking water source
(formally target 30)
7.8 Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility
(formally target 31)
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‘Countries face many difficulties in monitoring the MDG 7 indicators, as well as in the overall goal of making progress on environmental sustainability.”
“Insufficient availability of data and disaggregated data, lack of baseline data to act as references, and uncoordinated data collection inhibit the monitoring of targets set.”
Source: Making Progress on Environmental Sustainability, http://www.unep.org/poverty_environment/PDF_docs/mdg7english.pdf
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“While the MDG framework is best managed as a group of interrelated targets,
MDG 7 warrants particular attention given the weaknesses both in monitoring and in overall progress. This report presents specific steps to be used in tailoring targets and indicators for MDG 7. The steps can be followed in the order offered here or in a different sequence:
1) assess country environmental issues;
2) identify existing priorities;
3) use analytical frameworks to determine additional critical parameters;
4) set country-specific and verifiable targets;
5) select indicators and establish a baseline to track progress;
6) implement monitoring and data gathering systems;
7) analyse and interpret results; and
8) communicate the results to policy makers and the public.
Source: Making Progress on Environmental Sustainability http://www.unep.org/poverty_environment/PDF_docs/mdg7english.pdf
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An analytical framework for understanding the relations between the environment and the economy
•
Indicators of these relationships
•
Monitoring and data systems to support the framework and indicators
•
To be able analyse and interpret results and communicate results to policy makers and the public
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The SEEAW standard tables and commonly collected statistics on the population and economy can be combined to produce a wide range of water indicators
•
Population size and national accounts are two of the most commonly uses sources of other data
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Indicators: economic growth and water pollution
Netherlands: water pollution and economic growth, 1999-2001
120
115
110
105
100
95
90
85
80
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 nutrients metals wastewater
GDP
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1. 10
1. 0 5
1. 0 0
0 . 9 5
0 . 9 0
1. 3 0
1. 2 5
1. 2 0
1. 15
Indicators: economic growth and water use
Botswana: water use and economic
Growth, 1993-1998
Volum e of w ater
Per capita w ater use
GDP per m 3 w ater
19 9 3 / 9 4 19 9 4 / 9 5 19 9 5 / 9 6 19 9 6 / 9 7 19 9 7 / 9 8 19 9 8 / 9 9
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Environmental Economic Profiles
Sweden 1995
Pulp, paper and paper products
0 20 40 60 80 100
P ro ductio n value
Value added
Ho urs wo rked
Use o f energy
Use o f self-supplied water
Use o f distributed water
Use o f water fo r co o ling
Use o f water in the industrial pro cess
Other uses o f water
Direct discharge o f wastewater
Discharge to M WWTP
EP E internal expenditures
EP E payments to M WWTP
EP I fo r wastewater
Chem icals and chem ical products
0 20 40 60 80 100
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International transport of pollution
Share of pollution in rivers in the Netherlands originating abroad
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Arsenic Copper Zinc
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The SEEAW Indicators
(pages 169-183)
SEEAW provides an annex on indicators
•
Water availability
•
Water intensity and productivity
•
Opportunities to increase water supply
•
Cost and price of water supply and wastewater treatment services
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•
As part of the development of the
International Recommendations of Water
Statistics, UNSD will prepare guidance on the construction of policy relevant indicators
•
A draft should be available mid-2008
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• Per capita renewable resources
•
Ratio between Total renewable water resources and population size. (WWDR 2003, Margat 1996)
• Annual Withdrawals of Ground and Surface Water as a
Percent of Total Renewable Water/Exploitation index
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The total annual volume of ground and surface water abstracted for water uses as a percentage of the total annually renewable volume of freshwater. (UN, 2001)
•
Consumption Index
• Ratio between Water Consumption and Total
Renewable Resources. (Margat, 1996)
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Total renewable water resources
________________
=
Population
SEEAW
Asset account
2. Returns + 3. Precipitation +
4. Inflows – 6. Evaporation –
7. Outflows
________________
Population
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Withdrawals of ground and surface water
________________
=
Total renewable water resources
SEEAW
Physical Use Table
1.i.1 Abstraction from surface water +
1.i.2 Abstraction from ground water
________________
SEEAW
Asset account
2. Returns + 3. Precipitation + 4. Inflows –
6. Evaporation – 7. Outflows
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Water consumption
________________
Total renewable water resources
=
SEEAW
Physical Supply Table
7. Consumption
________________
SEEAW
Asset account
2. Returns + 3. Precipitation +
4. Inflows – 6. Evaporation –
7. Outflows
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Indicators for water intensity and productivity from SEEAW
1. Water use and pollution intensity (physical units) m
3
water/unit of physical output Water use or tons of pollution emitted per
Tons of pollution/unit of unit of output, such as physical output --population,
--number of households, or
--tons of wheat, steel, etc. produced
2. Water and pollution intensity (monetary units) m
3
water/value of output
Water use or tons of pollution emitted per
Tons of pollution/value of output unit of output measured in currency units
3. Water productivity ratios
GDP/ m
3 water
Value-added by sector/m
3 water
4. Water ‘pollutivity’ ratios
Sector share of pollution/sector share of GDP
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Indicators for opportunities to increase water supply from SEEA
1. Return flows
Quantity of return flows by source
May distinguish return flows from treated return flows (from municipal and industrial users) from untreated return flows such as agriculture
2. Water reuse
Reuse water as share of total industry water use
Recycled water as share of total water use by sector
3. Losses
Losses in abstraction and treatment as share of total water production
Unaccounted for losses as share of total water use
May distinguish reuse of water within a plant from water recycled by municipal water utility
Both the amount and the reason for these losses are usually known by the water utility
These losses occur for a variety of causes and it is usually not certain how much each cause contributes
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Indicators for cost and price of water supply and wastewater treatment
1. Supply cost and price of water
Implicit water price Volume of water purchased divided by supply cost
Average water price per m
3
by industry Volume of water purchased divided by actual payments by that industry
Average water supply cost per m
3
by Volume of water purchased divided by cost industry of supply to that industry
Subsidy per m
3
by industry Average water price minus average water supply cost
2. Supply cost and price of wastewater treatment services
Implicit wastewater treatment price Volume of water treated divided by supply cost
Average wastewater treatment cost per Volume of wastewater divided by treatment m3 by industry cost for that industry
Average wastewater treatment price Volume of wastewater divided by actual per m3 by industry payments for treatment by that industry
Subsidy per m3 by industry Average wastewater price minus average wastewater supply cost
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Indicators of access to and affordability of water and sanitation services
1. Access to water and sanitation services
Average daily water consumption by households, differentiating rural and urban households
Percent of urban households with access to safe drinking water
Percent of rural households with access to safe drinking water
Percent of urban households with access to sanitation services
E.g. from household expenditure surveys
Percent of rural households with access to sanitation services
2. Affordability of water
Household expenditures for water as % of total expenditures, differentiating rural and urban
Average price of water to households, differentiating rural and urban
Average price of water for subsistence agriculture (irrigation and livestock watering)
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Links between the World Water
Development Report Indicators and
SEEAW
•
World Water Assessment Programme 2006
• 21 of 38 Indicators can be directly derived from the water accounts
•
An 5 indicators can be partially derived
• 12 cannot be derived but can be included as supplementary information. Of these
•
4 are social indicators (e.g. urban and rural population)
• 3 are related to land areas and could be derived from land accounts
•
3 are related to energy and could be derived from energy accounts
•
Remaining 2 relate to ISO 14001 certification
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Indicators
Accounting
SNA, SEEA, SEEAW
Micro data
• All of these level are needed to have a complete information system
• Because policy makers are not yet familiar with environment accounts, you may find it useful to conduct your own analysis of the accounts or to encourage others to do an analysis
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• Valuation is the most contentious part of environmental accounting
•
The hybrid accounts are the starting point for valuation
• Compile these using standard SNA techniques
•
Some other approaches are described in Part II of
SEEAW
•
When presenting data and indicators that rely on valuation you must provide some guidance on interpretation
Approach issues of valuation cautiously
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Indicators are important communication tools. They summarise complex information
•
Indicators are only as good as the data and accounts that underpin them
•
Indicators need to be interpreted and analysed in the context of other data
•
Indicators need to built on solid foundation of data
37

Public
Politicians
Researchers
Indicators
Accounting
SNA, SEEA, SEEAW
Policy Makers
Strategic planners
Micro data
Indicators are part of communicating information
38

Michael Vardon
Adviser on Environmental-Economic Accounting
United Nations Statistics Division
New York 10017 USA
Room DC2 1532
Phone: +1 917 367 5391
Fax: +1 917 963 1374
Email: vardon@un.org
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