Introducing the Water Accounting Plus (WA+) Framework

Water scarcity is one of the greatest human challenges in this century which can cause many limitations in the world. Demand for freshwater is also increasing due to economic and population growth. Therefore, suitable planning for the limited water resources for storage, allocation, return flow, and environmental services is critical in order to optimize resources. Nowadays, an efficient water accounting system based on measuring, reporting, planning, and monitoring water resources in the world is needed. This system provides the possibility of processing and interpreting information in order to establish a comprehensive and integrated management of water resources through the organization of various data from different hydrological, environmental, and economic sectors. The water accounting system is an approach to standardize the way that data and information is organized. The purpose of this study is to introduce the WA+ water accounting framework as a simple and standard method that describes the state of water and land management in complex watersheds. This method is based on the water balance approach. Its feature is the use of satellite data to access the hydrological base data and surface ground processes. In general, the input data required for this framework can be derived from satellite measurements, hydrological models, and ground data. At present, WA+ contains 8 sheets which summarize water management situation and results are also presented as tables and maps. WA+ has a set of performance indicators that are used in the assessment and analysis of water resources and water consumption situations. WA+ has limitations that need to be resolved in the future and be edited for wider use.