Water Accounting & Auditing (WA&A)Rapid Water Accounting

A brief overviewMichela Marinelli and Jiro Ariyama

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FAO Water WA&A Sourcebook

Authors: Charles Batchelor, JippeHoogeveen, Jean-Marc Faures and LiviaPeiser

▪ This sourcebook consolidates lessons learned by FAO and others

▪ Most methods and tools in the sourcebook are well proven

▪ The sourcebook is available online

▪ French and English versions already available online- Arabic version coming soon

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5923e.pdf

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What is water accounting?

Water accounting can be defined as the systematic quantitative assessment of the status and trends in water supply, demand, distribution, accessibility and use in specified domains, producing information that informs water science, management and governance to support sustainable development outcomes for society and the environment (FAO, 2012, 2016)

Typical specialist inputs include : hydrology, hydro-geology, hydrochemistry, civil & hydraulic engineering, land &water management, ecology, information management

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Water accounting addresses water supply and demand:

Supply side issues:

▪ The availability of rainfall, surface water, groundwater and unconventional water resources (in space and time);

▪ Capacity, condition and O&M procedures of water supply, storage and treatment infrastructure.

Demand side issues:

▪ Demands for water of different users in space and time and the extent to which these demands are satisfied and sustainable;

▪ Patterns of consumptive or non-consumptive water use (and return flows) in space and time.

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What is water auditing?

Water auditing goes one step further than water accounting by placing trends in water supply, demand, accessibility and use in the broader context of governance, institutions, public and private expenditure, legislation and the wider political economy of water in specified domains of interest.

Typical specialist inputs include : Institutional development, social and political economics, gender, legal matters, water governance, behavioural science.

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Water auditing supports water accounting by providing insights into and information on e.g.

▪ Governance systems i.e. how decisions are made, where power resides and how power is mediated;

▪ Water-related policies and how these policies are implemented;

▪ Institutional roles, responsibilities and inter-relationships at different levels;

▪ Political, social, cultural and environmental priorities, challenges and opportunities;

▪ Levels of public and private expenditure;

▪ Functionality of statutory and customary legislation.

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Water accounting supports water auditing by providing insights into e.g.

▪ Physical availability and quality of water stocks, flows and fluxes in time and space

▪ Balance between water supply, demand and access in specified domains;

▪ Physical capacity and condition of water related infrastructure;

▪ Volumes and quality of return flows in space and time;

▪ Types and scales of water use fractions that are consumptive and non-consumptive;

▪ Frequency and severity of droughts, floods and other extreme events;

▪ Functionality of policies and programmes aimed at regulating demand and improving supply.

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Water accountingActivities

(Focus primarily on biophysical assessments & analysis)

Water auditingActivities

(Focus primarily on societal assessments & analysis)

Inception activities

Outputs & Outcomes

Integrated analysis & modelling

Stakeh

old

er e

ngage

me

nt

activities/in

pu

ts

Cross-cuttingactivities

FAO WA&A Framework

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WA+, SEEAW etc

Time

Incr

eas

ing

evid

en

ce a

nd

kn

ow

led

ge

Rapid water accounting

First cycle of problem or opportunity

focused water accounting

Cycles of learning and adaptation

Incre

asing co

nfid

en

ce in

WA

o

utp

uts

Second cycle of problem or opportunity

focused water accounting

Third cycle of problem or opportunity

focused water accounting

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Figure1.Wateraccountingcapacitybuildingprocess

Step1:Stakeholder

engagement&dialogue

Step2:Assesscapacity

buildingneeds&assets

WATERACOUNTINGCAPACITYBUILDING

PROCESS

Step3:Develop/updatecapacity

buildingplans

Step5:Evaluatecapacitybuildingoutputs&

outcomes

Step4:Implementcapacity

buildingplans

AfterUNDP,2009

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Develop a RWA implementation plan

RWA: Getting Started

What is your question?

Where is your area of interest (in relation to the question? for How Long?

Who should be part of the water accounting team?

Specifying & delineating temporal and spatial domain(s) of interest

Forming a multi-disciplinary implementation team

Identify issues and concerns

Who is interested to know? Who is/maysupport the exercice?

engage with key stakeholders

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Evaluative questions

deciding what information may be needed during rapid water accounting:

➢ Descriptive questions: What is happening? What is changing? Who is benefiting?

➢ Causal questions: What is causing or prompting changes?

➢ Synthesis questions: Are there externalities? Who is advocating change?

➢ Action questions: What should happen next? What are the drivers or opportunities for change.

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WA team and stakeholder engagement

Governement dpt and agencies

MediaElected

representatives

NGOs/ CBOs

Research/ academics

Org resp(ex.

pollution control°

Deliverersand users

Potential usersof outputs

Privatesector

Training /capacity

b org

Managers/ custodianof the info

Stakeholders who:• Want to be actively involved• Have relevant skills,

expertise and knowledge• Want to receive updates and

outputs• Are potential sources of

information• Are working on similar

programs• May fund or partially fund

the program

Multi-stakeholder process & implementation team

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River basin or watershed

Irrigation scheme

Field or land holding

➢Scope for augmenting water resources availability for rainfed and irrigated agriculture

➢Potential for improving basin level efficiency and productivity by capturing return flows and minimising large-scale non-beneficial consumptive water uses.

➢Spatial analysis of levels of variability and equity in supply and demand to different irrigation units or user groups.

➢ Potential for improving scheme-level efficiency and productivity by e.g. improved scheme governance/management, better O&M

➢ Identification and evaluation of different user-level drivers e.g. profit, risk minimisation, reduced labour costs etc

➢Potential for improving field or landholding productivity by e.g. Improved irrigation agronomy, better connection to markets, better farming systems

Spatial scales Typical WA&A focus /questions

Different special scales of the study area

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▪ Spatial units can be:

- Hydrological e.g. a river basin or an aquifer;

- Administrative/political e.g. a district, ;

- Or some combination of these units.

▪ Temporal units can be based on:- Standard units of time (e.g. hours, days, weeks, years),

- Management units (e.g. a crop season);

- Hydrological units e.g. a hydrological year

- or some combination of these units.

Note: Biophysical boundaries (e.g. of a basin, aquifer or an irrigation scheme) and

societal boundaries (e.g. of a country or a district) rarely overlap.

Setting spatial and temporal boundaries of the study area

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Suggested content of a RWA

• Executive summary, introduction, key questions, and description of the study area

• Description/presentation of the data sources and methods, time series analysis, maps, and information on uncertainty for

– Water resources such as precipitation, stream flow, groundwater, unconventional sources, imported water

– Infrastructure for diversion, extraction, storage, bulk delivery, irrigation and drainage, water treatment, etc

– Demand and use from different sectors

• Findings and recommendations

– Above data should be presented in a structured format (e.g. water budget table, a map, a table distinguishing consumptive vs non-consumptive and recoverable vs non-recoverable, comparison of sustainable water availability vs demand vs actual use, etc)

– Answers to key questions or evidence that supports (or otherwise) a contention or hypothesis

– Challenges and recommendations

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1.Perceptual model and RIDA

Ou low

Evapotranspira on(ET)

Precipita on(&irriga on)

(P)Inflow

Storage

2. type of uses versus supply

Withdrawal*from*surface*water*

Return*flow*to*surface*water*

Rainfall*

Withdrawal*of*surface*water*

Withdrawal*of*groundwater**

Return*flow*to*groundwater*

Non7recoverable*return*flows**

Soil*water*retained*or*

withdrawn*from*root*zone*

Beneficial*consump?on*

*

*

Non7beneficial*consump?on*

GROSSINFLOW§ Rainfall

§ Surfacewater§ Groundwater

NETINFLOW§ Grossinflow±

retainedsoilwater

BENEFICIALCONSUMPTION

§ Transpira onfromcrop

NON-BENEFICIALCONSUMPTION

§ Transpira onfromweeds

§ Bare-soil

evapora on

RECOVERABLERETURNFLOWS

§ Returnflowstosurfacewater&

groundwater

NON-RECOVERABLERETURNFLOWS

§ Heavilypollutedreturnflow

§ Returnflowsto

salineorheavilypollutedaquifers

Consumedfrac on Non-consumedfrac on

3. consumptive fractions of water

use

Process for Carrying out the rapid water accounting

4. Water balance

5. For each aspect, understand who

does what, and how

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Initiation of RWA: Use of RIDA framework

Adapted from Moriarty, P, C. Batchelor, P. Laban & H. Fahmy. 2010. Developing a Practical Approach to 'Light IWRM' in the Middle East. Water Alternatives. 3.

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Initiation of RWA: Use of Perceptual Diagram/Schematic

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Initiation of RWA: Use of Perceptual Diagram/Schematic

Precipitation Mt Lebanon Rainfall

upper catchment

Rainfall mid catchment

Rainfall lower

catchment

Rainfall coast

Dischargetosea

Runoff&returnflowsfromurbanareas(treated&

untreated)

Runoff&returnflowsfrom

forestedareas

Runoff&returnflowsfromirrigatedterraces&peri-

urbanareas(treated&untreated)

Reservoirinflow,storage,

release&spill

Runoff&snowmeltfromkarsticrangeland

Springflow

Springflow

BulkwatertransfertoBeirut

Subsurfaceflowtosea

Deep

percolation

under

forested

areas

Groundwater

extraction

confined &

unconfined

aquifers

Deep

percolation

under irrigated

terraces &

peri-urban

development

(treated &

untreated)

Groundwater

extraction

from confined

& unconfined

aquifers

Deep

percolation

under reservoir

and small

storages

Deep

Percolation

under highland

karstic

rangeland

Deep

percolation

under urban

areas

(treated &

untreated)

ET urban areas

ET irrigated terraces & peri-

urban

development

ET reservoir

ET karstic rangeland

ET forested

areas

NahrElKalbx-sectionschematicv1

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Caution!!!

• None of the framework/schematic template is perfect. For example…. – RIDA chart does not distinguish consumptive vs non-consumptive uses nor

represent hydrologic pathways well.

– The perceptual model/schematic shown in the previous slides does not well-capture small infrastructure and water demand.

• Use them to identify components to include in RWA at the early stage. You may add some missing pathways/components while writing the RWA report. You do not need to make a perfect diagrams but try to make it comprehensible

You can develop/modify the diagram with key stakeholders or use it as a basis for discussion

Thank you

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