System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEAW)

The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water, commonly referred to as SEEAW, has been prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division in collaboration with the London Group on Environmental Accounting, in particular, with its Sub-Group on Water Accounting.

The UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its thirty-eight session, upon recommendation by the UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA), has adopted Part I of the SEEAW as an interim international statistical standard subject to re-evaluation when the SEEA 2003 is adopted as an international statistical standard. Further, the UNSC encouraged its implementation in countries.

The SEEAW is a conceptual framework for the organization of physical and economic information related to water using concepts, definitions and classifications consistent to those of the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA). The SEEAW framework is an elaboration of that in the handbook Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting 2003 (SEEA 2003) which describes the interaction between the economy and the environment and covers the whole spectrum of natural resources and the environment.

The SEEAW consist of two parts:

Part I comprises the categories of accounts for which there is considerable practical experience and a consensus on best practices has emerged. It includes internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications, accounts and tables. It includes the following categories of accounts:

Physical supply and use tables (Chapter 3) provide information on the volumes of water abstracted, supplied within the economy and discharged back into the environment by economic activity and households;

Emission accounts (Chapter 4) provide information on the release of pollutants in wastewater in physical units;

Hybrid supply and use tables (Chapter 5) present side-by-side economic information on the use and supply of water within the economy with the corresponding physical flows. This module also provides information on the expenditure and financing of water-related activities as well as the stocks of water-related infrastructure in place;

Asset accounts (Chapter 6) provide information on the stock levels of water resources in the environment and their changes brought about human activities (i.e. abstraction and returns) and natural events (such as precipitation and evapotranspiration).

Part II comprises those accounts that are considered of high policy relevance but still experimental because a international accepted best practices did not emerge. They include:

Quality accounts (Chapter 7) provide information on the quality of water resources in the environment and their changes.

Valuation of non-market flow of water (Chapter 8) is a review of valuation techniques commonly used, given the controversial nature of water valuation. Flow accounts for pollution, energy and materials (Chapters 3 and 4). These accounts provide information at the industry level about the use of energy and materials as inputs to production and the generation of pollutants and solid waste.

Examples of application of water accounts (Chapter 9) provide examples of how the accounts have been used in countries for the derivation of indicators to monitor and evaluate policies; and for scenario-modeling.