14 December 2009

Yearly data on freshwater resources, water abstraction and use, wastewater treatment (connection rates of resident population to wastewater treatment and treatment capacities of wastewater treatment plants), sewage sludge production and disposal, generation and discharge of wastewater collected biennially by means of the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire - Inland Waters. Data aggregation: national territories.

The classifications are made according to the definitions of the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire, section ‘Inland Waters'.

NACE

Eurostat strives for further harmonisation with reporting frameworks under current/future European legislation, such as the Urban Wastewater treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) or the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC).

In principle all NACE sectors are covered by the data set produced.

Collection and compilation of annual data on a diversity of topics, comprising the following data sets for every country:

• Renewable fresh water resources;
• Annual fresh water abstraction by source and by sector and other sources of water (marine and brackish water, desalinated water, reused water);
• Water use by supply category, by sector and by industrial activities;
• Resident population connected to wastewater collecting systems and to wastewater treatment plants;
• Treatment capacity of wastewater treatment plants - design capacity and actual load;
• Sewage sludge production and disposal;
• Generation (by source and by sector) and discharge (by type of collecting system) of wastewater.

The statistical unit are the countries and in future also River Basin Districts (RBD) and River Basin District subunits.

Table 1: Inland waters

Table 2: Abstractions (withdrawals) from water resources

Table 3: Water use

Table 4: Resident population (with respect to wastewater treatment)

Table 5: Wastewater treatment plants (numbers and capacities)

Table 6: Sewage sludge (production and disposal)

Table 7: Wastewater (generation and discharge)

Data are collected for each member state of the EU. However, totals or averages for EU-15 or EU-27 are not yet calculated as there are too many gaps in the data due to the voluntary nature of reporting.

Additionally, data are collected for Candidate Countries, EFTA Countries and Balkan Countries.

Depending on availablity of data for different countries the period between 1970 - 2007 is covered.

Not applicable!

For water resources, water abstraction and water use: million m³

For population connected to sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants: % of resident population

For treatment capacities of wastewater treatment plants: 1000 kg O2 / day

For sewage sludge production and disposal: 1000 m³ (vol.) and million kg (dry substance)

For wastewater generation and discharge:

• Volume: million m³ / year
• BOD and COD: 1000 kg O2 / day
• Suspended solids, N, P: 1000 kg / day
• Population equivalents: million population equivalents
• Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn: 1000 kg / year

The "OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire - Inland Waters" is released every second year (even years) and asks for annual data.

The data collection is voluntary.

The data collection is a common action of OECD and Eurostat.

Data are shared with the European Environment Agency (EEA) and provided to the European Data Centre for Water (WISE).

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Not applicable!

Not applicable!

Not applicable!

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Dissemination format') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

There is no regular frequency of data dissemination. In general data are disseminated to the public within 6-8 weeks after reception.

On-line news releases!

There is no regular publication dedicated just to water statistics.

However data are used for the production of different Eurostat sample publications and for Statistics Explained.

Please consult free data on-line

Not applicable!

Data are used by partner institutions such as EEA (European Environment Agency) and UNSD (United Nations Statistical Division).

"Data Collection Manual for the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters Tables 1 - 7"

"OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire Inland Waters"

Quality is assured by internal data validation processes for which documentation is not yet available.

Quality is assured by internal data validation processes.

Presentation and paper on completeness and timeliness of water statistics data collection was provided at the "Water Statistics Meeting 2009" (18.11.2009).

Link to Presentation

Link to Paper

DG Environment

EEA (European Environment Agency)

ETC (European Topic Center) Water

Most user needs would be met if reporting were complete however the user needs of DG ENV, EEA and ETC for data at the level of River Basin Districts and at lower time scales as calendar year are not met yet.

DG Regio

The user need of DG REGIO for data at NUTS2 level is not met yet.

Requests of other user frequently concern water prices on which data are also not available yet.

No information available!

There are data gaps of different sizes for all participating countries.

No information available!

Not applicable!

Not applicable!

In case of regular reporting by the countries the time lag between the period covered by the data and publication of the data amounts up to 12 -24 months.

Approximately 50% of countries report within two weeks of the deadline.

In principle geographical comparability is good, but interpretability of country data is limited due to aggregation of regional differences.

Comparability over time is generally good, but can be limited due to data gaps and breaks in series.

The only collection of similar data is the "Urban Audit". Coherence is reduced because of the use of different concepts and different coverage.

Internal coherence between data and statistics published is very high.

No information available!

The data are revised whenever a new questionnaire is filled in: historical data are pre-filled, and National Statistical Institutes are asked to revise their data and make corrections wherever necessary.

The questionnaire itself is revised after discussions at the meetings of the relevant OECD and Eurostat bodies. In doing so, Eurostat strives to keep the balance between consistency of time series and adaptation to the users' needs and to progress in science and technology.

Minor data revisions are done by some countries without regular frequency.

The basic source of data are the National Statistical Institutes on which no specific data collection technique is imposed by Eurostat.

The survey type used is the "Joint OECD/Eurostat Questionnaire".

The data collection is done biennially by Eurostat, the frequency on national level depends on country and issue.

National Statistical Institutes collect the data from regional or local authorities, from environmental administrations and from industry. Where suitable and necessary, they apply own surveys and statistical estimation methods.

Eurostat and OECD check the data for plausibility, e.g. for logical consistency and for extraordinary changes in time series. All problems are treated in close collaboration with the National Statistical Institutes and/or the relevant experts in the countries.

Eurostat calculates some indicators, e.g. "per capita" values.

Not applicable!

Explanatory footnotes provided by the countries are not yet available via Eurostat's dissemination database.