Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

Eurostat's water statistics on national level (env_nwat) include the following data sets based on the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire on Inland waters (JQ-IW):

The OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters records a number of water related characteristics, which are broken down by the following dimensions and related code lists:

• Water process (wat_proc)
• Water sources (wat_src)
• Waste-water treatment plants (ww_tp)
• Waste-water generation, treatment and discharge (ww_gtd)
• Statistical classification of economic activities (nace_r2)
• Wastewater treatment plants parameter (ww_tpar)
• Substances (substances)

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

Statistical concepts and definitions for the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters are laid down in the following:

• Data Collection Manual for the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters and Eurostat Regional Water Questionnaire - Concepts, definitions, current practices, evaluations and recommendations
• Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters (JQ-IW) and Eurostat’s Regional Water Questionnaire (RWQ) - Definitions, notes, relations and schemes 

At international level, statistical concepts and definitions for water statistics and accounts are laid down in the following:

• International Recommendations for Water Statistics
• SEEA Water

Statistical units differ, depending on the various data sources used to compile water statistics.

All inland water flows.

EU Member States, EFTA countries, EU candidate countries and potential candidates. EU totals or averages are not yet calculated as there are many data gaps due to the voluntary nature of reporting.

Depending on availability of data for different countries the period between 1970 - 2022 is covered

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

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

For sewage sludge production and disposal: 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

The calendar year

The data collection is voluntary. Eurostat’s work on water statistics is covered by the European Statistical Programme.

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

Data are also shared with the European Environment Agency (EEA) and provided to the Water Information System for Europe (WISE), the European data centre for water. Data are as well used by the UN Statistics Division and FAO.

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.

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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 - 'Accessibility and clarity') 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.

From 2019 onwards, the data collection is executed every year, and with this the database is updated at once a year.

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Statistics explained: section water statistics

There is no regular publication dedicated just to water statistics. However data are used for the production of different Eurostat sample publications.

Please consult free data on-line or refer to contact details.

Data are disseminated free through Eurostat's website.

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Documentation on the collection of the water data collection can be found in the manual for water statistics.

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

Quality is assured by internal data validation processes.

Contributing countries are requested to document their approach by means of standardized quality reports.

Data are checked for logical consistency within the tables, in between tables, in between countries, as well as over time.

DG Environment, DG Agriculture and Rural Development (Agri), Joint Research Centre (DG JRC), DG Climate Action

OECD

EEA (European Environment Agency)

UN Statistics Division

UN FAO

European Court of Auditors

European Investment Bank

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There are data gaps of different size and character for all participating countries.

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In case of regular reporting, the time lag between the period covered by the data and publication of the data amounts up to 16 -18 months.

The data collection launched in 2023 had a response of 39 countries of which 5 countries reported within three months after the deadline.

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

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

Data on sewage sludge treatment are also reported under the waste statistics Regulation but with limited comparability.

The internal coherence is high.

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To further specify the general Eurostat revision policy, the following revision policy has been established:

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.

Reported errors are assessed for seriousness to determine whether they should trigger a correction of already disseminated data. Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.

New data are only used to update disseminated data if provided according to the provision schedule set by Eurostat, or in the case of reported errors.

The default operational source of the data is the National Statistical Institute on which no specific data collection method is imposed by Eurostat. In a few countries, collection of all or part of the data is delegated to other administrations, such as e.g. environment agencies operating under supervision of the ministry of the environment.

The data collection uses the "Joint OECD/Eurostat questionnaire on inland water (JQ-IW)"

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

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

The data collection is done every calendar year, as well as gap-filling and corrections for earlier reference years.

Eurostat collects the data using questionnaires presented as SDMX-compatible Excel files. Each of the 7 tables of the Joint Questionnaire comes as a separate file and is released in the EDAMIS system (Eurostat single entry point). Supplementary information relevant for filling in the tables (e.g. data collection manual) is made available on Circabc for download by the Member States. The filled-in questionnaires are accessible by Eurostat within the EDAMIS system. Apart from the automatic EDAMIS monitoring files, a working file is kept up-to-date to monitor the incoming replies.

Following data is collected 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;
• Sewage sludge production and disposal;
• Generation (by source and by sector) and discharge (by type of collecting system) of wastewater

Data is filled in a tailor-made database (WATER in MDT), and Eurostat checks the data for plausibility, e.g. for logical consistency in several dimensions and for unusual changes in time series. All detected problems are reported and treated in close collaboration with the National Statistical Institutes and/or the relevant experts in the countries. Once validation is done, the data are uploaded to Eurostat's website ('Eurobase'). 

The data validation is done following the validation levels 0 to 3 and partly level 5 (see concept of validation levels), as proposed in the VIP Validation project. Some basic quality checks in the file itself, intra-file checks, as well as comparison with other files referring to the same statistical domain followed by "intra-domain and intra-source checks" are of relevance: it includes revision checks, time series checks and inter-dataset checks, as well as some mirror checks.

Validation level 4 is not of use for us, but validation level 5 is partly used for some data checking with our partners outside the Institution (eg. EAA).

Eurostat calculates some indicators, e.g. "per capita" values, and water statistics are used in the indicator sets for the assessment of sustainable develoment and resource effciency.

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Explanatory footnotes provided by the countries are not directly available via Eurostat's dissemination database. The content is made accessible via the metadata Annex sheet (in preparation).