Water accounting for integrated water management

1. SEMINARI Costos i comptes de l'aigua a Catalunya en relació amb la Directiva marc de l'aigua (DMA) Barcelona, 18 i 19 de juny de 2007 Water accounting for integrated water management Jean-Louis Weber, European Environment Agency

2. History • Pioneer work covering : • France and Spain 1986: Quantity and Quality, Supply & Use • France: Quantity for the 6 River basin authorities, case study/methodology of quality accounts for 1 small river basin. Further development of quality accounts from national monitoring. Annual publication of economic accounts • Spain: complete set of quantity and quality accounts, supply & use and expenditures • OECD test 1990 (4 countries: FR & ES plus Finland and the Netherlands – problems with asset accounts) • Eurostat & EEA end of 90’s: pilot work on water quality accounts (France, England & Wales, Ireland, Slovenia) • Eurostat sponsored projects • TACIS: Moldova 2000 (Quantities, supply and use and assets, 1994, 1998 – continuing – Report to Eurostat) • MEDSTAT I ENV: Turkey 2002 (Quantities, supply and use plus estimate for assets report to MAP/Blue Plan) • Other activities related to expenditure for water protection and management (SERIEE), polluting emissions, incl. NAMEA/water approach at Eurostat and in several Member countries (NAMWA-NL, applications in FR, ES…) • Other country applications: Chile, Australia, Namibia • Now: SEEAW, launch in Voorburg 2006, international standard since 2007

3. 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.

4. Water is altogether • a component (flowing in rivers, mains and bodies…) • a system (hydrological) • a set of services (to economic production and ecological and human well being) • and a threat to all of these when scarce

5. How should we measure water components, systems, services and threats? The Raft, a Metaphor of Stability and Resilience (D. Ludwig, Resilience Alliance)

6. The Raft- a Metaphor of Stability and Resilience (1) • Empty, the raft is stable and capable of supporting some loads on an appropriate water body (enough free water…) for delivering transport service In this case, the raft is resilient and can easily accommodate loads – people or goods – without being under threat.

7. The Raft- a Metaphor of Stability and Resilience (2) • The resilient raft can accommodate some loads, keeping enough stability • But when the load is excessive, the raft is less capable to adapt. Due to the excessive load, it starts sinking.

8. The Raft- a Metaphor of Stability and Resilience (3) • In addition, 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 (sinking) but by the position of any new load (even small)

9. The Raft- a Metaphor of Stability and Resilience (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.

10. Water accounts and the “raft metaphor” • The 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 of water and terrestrial ecosystems should be as well reflected • Long term/broad scale trends matter as much as local configurations and short term processes • Water systems are part of socio-ecosystems

11. SEEA: Water accounts do cover many aspects, all are important Ecosystem accounts Services & Natural assets accounts

12. Various aspects of integration of water accounts • System integration: ‘water system’ & ‘use system’ • Spatial integration: water and land systems • Integrated framework • ‘Supply & Use’ and ‘Natural Assets’ (the resource) • Quality and quantity • Water ecosystems (hydraulic, biology…) • Physical and monetary accounts • Integrated assessments as an outcome of accounting (integrated indicators) • Institutional integration (data sources, networking) • Integration of policies: The Water Framework Directive

13. System integration: ‘water system’ & ‘use system’ Rest of the World Territory of reference Evapotranspiration Precipitations Atmosphere HYDROLOGICAL SYSTEM Inland water Inland water Land &Soil Inflows Groundwater Outflows Snow & Ice Internal transfers Sea Lakes & Reservoirs Rivers Evapotranspiration(irrigation…) Primary Returns + Abstraction Residuals Exports Users Users USERS SYSTEM Imports 2 interacting systems…

14. Spatial integration of water accounts Integrated platform for land water and biodiversity assessments…

15. Spatial integration Example: surplus of N from agriculture and atmospheric origin…

16. Integration of ‘Supply & Use’ and ‘Natural Assets’ Moldova 1994 Courtesy Jana Tafi, WDC

17. Integrating quality River group Small Medium Large ˆ Quality … † ‡ Class1 Class2 ƒ Class3  „ ‚ Quality of river reaches measured in ‘standard river kilometres’ 1 srkm = 1km x 1 m3/second

18. Quality accounts: Case studies in France, Spain, Chile, England & Wales, Ireland, Slovenia Example:France 1992-1994, Results in SRKM*1000 – Source Crouzet, Ifen 1998 Source: J.M. Naredo, J.M. Gascó, R. Jiliberto Chile: evolución por secciones de la calidad total. Uso urbano Source: Meza, Jiliberto, Maldini et alii 1999)

19. Several ways of assessing water quality • According to selected disturbances/perturbations of functions & uses (services) • Total hydraulic and osmotic power of river basins • Health of ecosystem approach (vigor, organisation, resilience, capacity of sustaining healthy populations, dependance from artificial inputs )

20. Quality 1: selected disturbances/perturbations of functions & uses (services) Source: RNDE, France

21. Quality 2: Total Hydraulic and Osmotic powers + “Water resource quality (WRQ) is affected by salt concentration and topographical position. Indeed, an increase in salt concentration, which decreases water availability for animal and plant nutrition, and lower altitude, which diminishes the potential for production of hydropower, negatively affects WRQ.” Total power TP (MW) can be obtained by the expression: TP = Hydraulic Power + Osmotic Power According to this expression, TP can be defined as the minimum power needed to transport a desalted sea-water flow Q from sea level to position H (m) in a river course Sources: Gasco et alii 2005, Valero et alii 2002

22. Quality 3: River ecosystem; example: fragmentation • migratory fish based indicator : length of accessible routes vs. total length of routes susceptible to be explored along with percentage of fish reaching the target catchments (possibly with fish health status and delay to reaching the target). • habitat based indicator : a) length of free flowing river (absence of obstacles) vs. total length of river b) distribution of lengths or river between impassable obstacles. NB: this is different to migratory routes, because all rivers, even not being migratory routes are considered. Courtesy Philippe Crouzet 2007

23. Quality 3: River ecosystem; example: fragmentation Courtesy Philippe Crouzet 2007

24. Ebro coastal retreat is 10-30m/y. Since 1983, 110 MT of sand have been delivered by trucks to the Mediterranean Spanish shores. Deltas Under Threat Sea Level Rise Only Part of the Story Global Sample of 40 Basins Elements kindly provided by prof Charles Vörösmarty (Univ New Hampshire, USA) and Prof James Syvistky (Univ.Colorado,USA) • Sources of Change: • -- 5 Sea Level Rise • -- 8 Groundwater/petroleum extraction • -- 27 Upstream sediment trapping & diversion Ericson et al., 2006, Global and Planetary Change Courtesy Philippe Crouzet 2007

25. Water accounting and integrated assessments Indicators structured by water accounts…

26. Institutional integration (data sources) Primary data sources for water accounts…

27. Institutional integration (networking institutions) The Water Data Centre project in Moldova… Courtesy Jana Tafi, WDC

28. Integration of policies: The Water Framework Directive 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. WFD covers in particular • Regulatory Regimes incl. charging schemes • River Basin Characterisation • Monitoring and Classification • River Basin Management Planning

29. WFD Article 9 requirements • Cost-recovery • water services & water uses • environmental and resource costs • polluter pays principle • Adequate contribution of water users to cost recovery, at least industry, agriculture and households • Water pricing providing adequate incentive for efficient water use • Social, environmental and economic effects of the recovery, as well as geographic and climatic conditions • Subsidies • Article 9 exemption – if not compromising the achievements of the objectives for a given water-use activity Courtesy Maria Brättemark, DG Environment D2

30. WFD Article 5 and Annex III • Reporting on economic analysis of water use (art 5) • Economic analysis “enough information in sufficient detail” to: • “relevant calculations” recovery of the cost of water services, • long term forecasts of supply and demand for water in the river basin district • volume, price and costs associated with water services • estimates of relevant investments including forecasts of such investments • Make judgements about the most cost-effective combination of measures Courtesy Maria Brättemark, DG Environment D2

31. WFD & Economic Analysis Courtesy Arnaud Courtecuisse, Agence de l’Eau Artois-Picardie, France, 2006

32. The context of the Artois-Picardie Basin • 20 000 Km2 • 4,7 Millions inhabitants • GDP: 98 billions € • GPD/inhabitant: 21 107 € • GPD/inh France: 25 978 € • Unemployment rate: 12,7% • France: 9,9 % • 96% of drinkable water come from groundwater Courtesy Arnaud Courtecuisse, Agence de l’Eau Artois-Picardie, France, 2006

33. Risk of not meeting quality objectives by 2015 Courtesy Arnaud Courtecuisse, Agence de l’Eau Artois-Picardie, France, 2006

34. Unemployment in 2004 Courtesy Arnaud Courtecuisse, Agence de l’Eau Artois-Picardie, France, 2006

35. Water price survey Water Distribution Sewerage Environmental Taxes Other taxes VAT The breakdown of the 3,28 €/ m3 and comparisons… (source IWA) Courtesy Arnaud Courtecuisse, Agence de l’Eau Artois-Picardie, France, 2006

36. Comparison of water bill vis à vis available income Mean Water bill (all services) (price paid for 120m3 in a year) Mean available income per household Courtesy Arnaud Courtecuisse, Agence de l’Eau Artois-Picardie, France, 2006

37. Water bill / mean available Income • several groups of municipalities with ratio>3% (2-3% is a guidance value – see OCDE, EU, Académie de l’eau) • these groups of municipalities combine high water price and low mean available income (and sometimes household’s expenses to buy bottled water equivalent to annual water bill) Comparison at municipality level • the commonly used value of annual consumption of 120 m3 per household hides important differences of mean consumption per region • mean available income per municipality hides also various situations (and the real part of the population facing major difficulties to pay water bills) Courtesy Arnaud Courtecuisse, Agence de l’Eau Artois-Picardie, France, 2006

38. Water accounts and the WFD • WFD & the Water Information System for Europe • Information Data Centre on Water • Water accounts at Eurostat and the EEA

39. WFD & the Water Information System for Europe

40. Access to data reported for the WFD – example: viewer

41. Wise viewer

42. Wise viewer: Heavily Modified and Artificial Water Bodies

43. Information Data Centre on Water • EEA (leader) + COM, JRC & Eurostat • Data + Information • WISE + Water Accounts

44. A joint EEA Eurostat proposal: demo publication of Water accounts for Europe in 2008 • Water assets and resource • Supply and uses of water by sectors (Box: Best practice: NAMWA, CBS, the Netherlands) • Waste water, emission and treatment • Agriculture surpluses to water • Fluxes in rivers and to the sea (N, sediments…) • Qualities of rivers (lakes and aquifers) • Ecosystems: Fragmentation of rivers and other ecosystem distress • Expenditure for water protection and management • Access of people to water and services, quantities and prices (Box: Best practice: Water quality, price and social condition in Artois-Picardie) Provisional

45. SEMINARI Costos i comptes de l'aigua a Catalunya en relació amb la Directiva marc de l'aigua (DMA) Barcelona, 18 i 19 de juny de 2007 Thank you! Gràcies! Gracias! Jean-louis.weber@eea.europa.eu