The International Recommendations for Water Statistics (IRWS) were developed to help strengthen national information systems for water in support of design and evaluation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) policies. IRWS was adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its 41st session in 2010.

IRWS contains guidelines for the collection, compilation and dissemination of internationally comparable water statistics and water accounts in line with SEEA-Water. IRWS also includes an agreed list of data items for deriving indicators within a coherent conceptual framework.

IRWS was developed through an international consultative process involving experts from national and international institutions.