Accounting for Water Use and Productivity

Accounting for Water Use and Productivity
Author: David Molden
Publisher: IWMI
Total Pages: 26
Release: 1997
Genre: Irrigation
ISBN: 929090349X

This paper presents a conceptual framework for water accounting and provides generic terminologies and procedures to describe the status of water resource use and consequences of water resources related actions. The framework applies to water resource use at three levels of analysis: a use level such as an irrigated field or household, a service level such as an irrigation or water supply system, and a water basin level that may include several uses. Water accounting terminology and performance indicators are developed and presented with examples at all the three levels. Concepts and terminologies presented are developed to be supportive in a number of activities including: identification of opportunities for water savings and increasing water productivity; developing a better understanding of present patterns of water use and impacts of interventions; improving communication among professionals and communication to non-water professionals; and improving the rationale for allocation of water among uses. It is expected that with further application, these water accounting concepts will evolve into a robust, supporting methodology for water basin analysis.

Water Accounting

Water Accounting
Author: Jayne M. Godfrey
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2012
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1849807507

This groundbreaking book examines the role that water accounting can play in resolving economic, environmental and social issues. One of the most pressing global issues of the 21st century is the scarcity of water to ensure economic, environmental and social sustainability. In addressing the issue through policy and management, access to high quality information is critically important. But water scarcity has many implications, and it is possible that different reporting approaches, generally called water accounting systems, can be appropriate to addressing them. In this key book, international experts respond to the question: what role can water accounting play in resolving economic, social and environmental issues at individual, organizational, industry, national and international levels? They explore how various forms of water accounting are utilized and the issues that they address. Academics and postgraduate students interested in water scarcity and accounting will find this book invaluable. Policymakers in all areas relating to water as well as environmentalists, water industry managers and water lawyers will find plenty of important insights in this essential resource.

WATER ACCOUNTING FOR WATER GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

WATER ACCOUNTING FOR WATER GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 53
Release: 2018-06-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9251304270

There is growing interest in water accounting, why it is needed, what benefits it brings, and equally important, how it can be put into practice. Water accounting is not a new idea, yet it is an alarmingly simple one. It is about quantifying water resources and uses of water, much like financial accounts provide information on income and expenditure. Interest in water accounting is based on the premise that ‘We cannot plan and manage what we do not measure’ – a statement that few would disagree with. However, given the current focus on water as a precious and limiting resource, the risks of extreme floods and droughts, and water’s central role in the 2030 Agenda, it is difficult to understand why so little attention is given to water accounting and to making sure we have enough water. Indeed, estimates suggest that by 2050, if we continue with our current approach to water management, global water demand will exceed supply by over 40%, which would put at risk 45% of global GDP, 52% of the world’s population, and 40% of grain production (WWDR, 2016). This concern is supported by the World Economic Forum that consistently ranks water crises as a top global risk (WEF, 2015). Reports from South Africa (January 2018) suggesting that Cape Town may be the world’s first major city to face the prospect of running out of water following severe drought, is a timely ‘wake-up call’ for everyone to focus on accounting for water.

Water Accounting in the Litani River Basin

Water Accounting in the Litani River Basin
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 63
Release: 2019-11-21
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9251318832

This report provides the water accounting study for Litani River basin in Lebanon carried out by IHE Delft using the Water Productivity open data portal (WaPOR) of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The Litani River basin is one of the key river basins in Lebanon and it is experiencing water scarcity with annual renewable water resources being 606.9 mm3/yr. With an estimated population of 375 000 in 2010 and doubled by 2016 due to the Syrian refugee crisis, the total per capita water availability is around 800 m3/cap/yr indicating water shortage. Increasing challenges such as growing population, climate change, groundwater over-exploitation and inter-basin transfers have put the available water resources in the basin under stress. The completeness and quality of the hydro-meteorological records are insufficient to draw an appropriate picture of the water resources conditions. However, the Water Accounting Plus (WA+) system designed by IHE Delft with its partners FAO and IWMI has been applied to gain full insights into the state of the water resources in the basin for the period 2010 to 2016. The WA+ framework is a reporting mechanism for water flows, fluxes and stocks that are summarized by means of WA+ sheets.

Key Concepts in Water Resource Management

Key Concepts in Water Resource Management
Author: Jonathan Lautze
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2014-06-20
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1134656416

The vocabulary and discourse of water resource management have expanded vastly in recent years to include an array of new concepts and terminology, such as water security, water productivity, virtual water and water governance. While the new conceptual lenses may generate insights that improve responses to the world’s water challenges, their practical use is often encumbered by ambiguity and confusion. This book applies critical scrutiny to a prominent set of new but widely used terms, in order to clarify their meanings and improve the basis on which we identify and tackle the world’s water challenges. More specifically, the book takes stock of what several of the more prominent new terms mean, reviews variation in interpretation, explores how they are measured, and discusses their respective added value. It makes many implicit differences between terms explicit and aids understanding and use of these terms by both students and professionals. At the same time, it does not ignore the legitimately contested nature of some concepts. Further, the book enables greater precision on the interpretational options for the various terms, and for the value that they add to water policy and its implementation.

More Crop Per Drop

More Crop Per Drop
Author: Meredith Giordano
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1843391120

This volume is an analytical summary and a critical synthesis of research at the International Water Management Institute over the past decade under its evolving research paradigm known popularly as 'more crop per drop'. The research synthesized here covers the full range of issues falling in the larger canvas of water-food-health-environment interface. Besides its immediate role in sharing knowledge with the research, donor, and policy communities, this volume also has a larger purpose of promoting a new way of looking at the water issues within the broader development context of food, livelihood, health and environmental challenges. More crop per drop: Revisiting a research paradigm contrasts the acquired wisdom and fresh thinking on some of the most challenging water issues of our times. It describes new tools, approaches, and methodologies and also illustrates them with practical application both from a global perspective and within the local and regional contexts of Asia and Africa. Since this volume brings together all major research works of IWMI, including an almost exhaustive list of citations, in one single set of pages, it is very valuable not only as a reference material for researchers and students but also as a policy tool for decision-makers and development agencies.

The Water Footprint Assessment Manual

The Water Footprint Assessment Manual
Author: Maite M. Aldaya
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2012-08-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136538526

People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but significantly more for producing things such as food, paper and cotton clothes. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. Indirect use refers to the 'virtual water' embedded in tradable goods and commodities, such as cereals, sugar or cotton. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. This book offers a complete and up-to-date overview of the global standard on water footprint assessment as developed by the Water Footprint Network. More specifically it: o Provides a comprehensive set of methods for water footprint assessment o Shows how water footprints can be calculated for individual processes and products, as well as for consumers, nations and businesses o Contains detailed worked examples of how to calculate green, blue and grey water footprints o Describes how to assess the sustainability of the aggregated water footprint within a river basin or the water footprint of a specific product o Includes an extensive library of possible measures that can contribute to water footprint reduction

Water accounting & auditing guidelines

Water accounting & auditing guidelines
Author: Batchelor, C
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2016-01-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9251093318

In many regions of the world, sustainable and reliable delivery of water services has become increasingly complex and problematic. Complexities that are very likely to increase, considering the unprecedented confluence of pressures linked to demographic, economic, dietary trends, and climate change. Particularly if overall demand for freshwater exceeds supply, the delivery of water services is often less about engineering, although engineering is still required, and more about politics, governa nce, managing and protecting sources, resolving conflicts about water, ensuring rights to water are respected, and so on. It is also about understanding and monitoring the hydrological cycle at the appropriate scale of analysis. This is where water accounting and auditing can play a crucial role. The rationale behind this water accounting and auditing sourcebook is that scope exists worldwide to improve water-related sectoral and inter-sectoral decision-making at local, regional and national le vels. Water accounting and auditing are recommended by FAO and others as being fundamental to initiatives that aim to cope with water scarcity. This sourcebook aims to provide practical advice on the application and use of water accounting and auditing, helping users planning and implementing processes that best fit their needs.

System of Environmental-economic Accounting for Water

System of Environmental-economic Accounting for Water
Author: United Nations. Statistical Division
Publisher:
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water, commonly referred to as SEEA-Water, is a conceptual framework for the organization of physical and economic information, developed with the purpose of providing an integrated conceptual framework to support water policy design and evaluation. It uses concepts, definitions and classifications coherent with those of the System of National Accounts. SEEA-Water is a subsystem of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), which provides internationally agreed standards for the compilation of measures about the environment and its interactions with the economy. After a rigorous consultation process, SEEA-Water was adopted in 2007 by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC). Part I of SEEA-Water has been adopted as an interim international statistical standard subject to re-evaluation when the SEEA is adopted as an international statistical standard.