Page 106 - CIWA Water Data Revolution Overview Report

planning, monitoring, and evaluating water resources within river basins. Water accounting

addresses these needs; water accounting is the systematic study of the status of, and trends

in, water supply, demand, accessibility, and use, enabling the quantitative assessment of the

state of the water resources in a geographic region over a particular period of time. Water
accounts are typically used to communicate water resources-related information and the

services generated from use in a geographical domain (e.g., a river basin) to users such as

policymakers and water authorities, as well as international financing institutions seeking to
determine the impact of investments and to ensure environmental and social safeguards are

being met. Water accounting is seen as a tool to inform the discussion required with political

leadership to begin to establish rational investments in the creation of the food, water,

energy, and environmental systems required to sustain current and future populations.

1.1 Why Water Accounting

For transboundary river basins, water accounting offers several additional advantages. A
comprehensive and consistent water accounting framework applicable across multiple spatial

scales is critical to a) allocating water between competing users, b) understanding the impacts

of management decisions, c) setting the limits of sustainable extraction, d) supporting

investment decisions in water infrastructure for agricultural and urban development, e)
understanding future impacts of climate on water availability and f) the overarching

sustainability of the resource,

Moreover, from a basin perspective, water accounting is used as a tool to ensure that
available water resources are managed most effectively and equitably and to generate the

most “value” for society, understanding synergies (and often trade-offs) land management

practices. For example, water interventions upstream affect both the quantity and quality of

water reaching downstream and may affect economic benefits derived from water resource
development throughout the river basin. When water was plentiful, with a water allocation

system and water rights in place, water use changes in one place did not substantially affect

other users. However, as water becomes scarce, coupled with the changes in

interdependence, basin-level water accounting will provide a basis to understand the