Integrated river basin accounting in the Netherlands and the European Water framework Directive

Abstract

The implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) has increased policy and decision-maker demand for integrated hydro-economic data, information and indicators at the level of river basins. In order to meet this increasing demand, a new integrated hydro-economic accounting system has been developed, called National Accounting Matrix including Water Accounts for River Basins (NAMWARiB). NAMWARiB provides information about the interactions between the physical water system and the economy at national and river basin scale. The main objective of this paper is to present and discuss the use and usefulness of the newly developed river basin information system for the implementation of the European WFD based upon the currently available time series data.