- Undertaking the economic analyses of water uses

The primary objective of the economic analysis of water uses is (i) to assess how important water is for the economy and socio-economic development of the river basin, and (ii) to pave the way for the assessment of significant water uses and analysis of disproportionate costs.   (i) The economic analysis of water uses is used to construct the general economic profile of the river basin and of its key water uses and significant pressures in terms of:  

• Economic analysis of water uses, e.g. collating information for significant water uses on gross income, turnover, number of beneficiaries, agricultural and industrial area or employment, etc as considered relevant;
• Stressing the importance of water for economic and regional development and the evidence of this importance provided in existing economic strategies and plans; and
• Areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species, as input into the register of protected areas required under Article 7 and Annex IV of the Directive.

  These general economic indicators will be computed at the scale of the river basin or river basin district. For economically significant aquatic species, further desegregation according to location within the river basin may be provided consistently with the maps prepared for Article 7. This analysis is mainly based on easily available statistics and information. Specific approaches may be used to transform existing information (often available for administrative regions or water service areas) to the scale of the river basin or river basin district.   (ii) In parallel, the economic analysis of water uses needs to pave the way for the assessment of the significant water uses to be reported to the public by 2007 and related understanding of the likely tradeoffs and conflicts between socio-economic development, environment and water protection that can be fed into the public information and participation process regarding the development of river basin management plans.   The indicators computed are similar to the ones listed above, complemented with variables and indicators that are specific to the significant water uses identified for the river basin considered, e.g. cropping pattern for specific irrigated schemes that impose high pressures on water resources, turnover and main products of industrial sub-sectors that are highly polluting rivers, etc. However, the computation scale or desegregation level is the area linked to a given significant pressure or to specific economic sectors/sub-sectors.  Overall, the analysis should remain proportionate and not entail extensive collection of new data, i.e. dealing primarily with clear conflicts/water management issues based on information of relevance to significant water uses. The spatial scale or region at which the analysis should be undertaken will be defined by both the analysis of pressures and impacts developed for the characterisation of the river basin, and the outcome of the participation process and stakeholders input/request for specific further desegregation.