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Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Methodology and quality
  3. ESMS metadata
  4. Water use

Water use

1. Contact
1.1. Contact organisation

Statistics Estonia

1.2. Contact organisation unit

Economic and Environmental Statistics Department

1.3. Contact name

Hanna Pentsa

1.4. Contact person function

Leading Analyst

1.5. Contact mail address

51 Tatari Str, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia

1.6. Contact email address

hanna.pentsa [at] stat.ee

1.7. Contact phone number

2. Metadata update
2.1. Metadata last certified

27/03/2025

2.2. Metadata last update

27/03/2025

3. Statistical presentation
3.1. Data description

Water extraction by source and type of water, incl. extraction of ground water by aquifers and bodies of groundwater

Water use by type of water and economic activity and by field of water use

Amount of wastewater and pollution load by pollutant; amount of wastewater and pollution load by catchment area

3.2. Classification system

Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2

Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK)

3.3. Sector coverage

All sectors and activities

3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD7) – quantity of oxygen expressed in milligrams consumed in the biological decomposition of organic substances contained in one litre of water during 7 days. The source of organic pollutants is wastewater of households, food processing industry and agriculture. The result of large quantity of organic pollutants in water bodies is reduction of oxygen and suffocation of fish and other water biota.

Cooling water – water which is used to absorb and remove heat. The main users of cooling water are large power stations of Ida-Viru county (AS Narva Elektrijaamade Balti elektrijaam and Eesti elektrijaam).

Effluent – water discharged to the environment after being used or rain water collected and discharged through sewerage.

Ground water – fresh water that is being held in, and can usually be recovered from, or via, an underground formation, which may accumulate in wells and filter into surface water bodies.

Mechanical treatment – primary treatment of waste water whereby suspended solids are separated from the sewage by sedimentation, floating, filtration, microfiltration or oil/water separation. It is usually used in combination with other types of treatment, either as the first step (in order to protect other treatment facilities against damage or surface contamination) or as final treatment (in order to remove particulate matter or oils separated during prior treatment).

Mineral water – a special kind of ground water. Mineral water includes minerals or other dissolved substances, which give water taste or therapeutic properties.

Mining water – quantity of water abstracted from mines and quarries during the year.

Rain and drainage water – water from natural sources collected by drainage system, which is not wastewater.

Sea water – quantity of water abstracted from the Baltic Sea during the year.

Surface water – water that stands or flows permanently or temporarily in a water body or water in snow or ice aggregate, except sea water.

Suspended solids – a mixture of fine powdery substances and liquid in which the solid particles are bigger than in a colloidal solution.

Total nitrogen – annual load of nitrogen (N) from households and economic sectors discharged into aquatic ecosystems with waste water.

Total phosphorus – annual load of phosphorus (P) from households and economic sectors discharged into aquatic ecosystems with waste water.

Waste water – water which is damaged beyond the level of harmlessness and which requires purification, or effluent or contaminated rain water.

Water abstraction – water removed from ground or surface water source during the year. Water abstraction from households’ wells, which did not need permit of special use of water is not included.

Water discharge – discharge of effluent into a recipient.

Water use – water that is actually used for a specific purpose such as for domestic use, production and agriculture. Excludes water returned without usage like water extracted in mining and quarrying, draining water, etc.

3.5. Statistical unit

Enterprise

3.6. Statistical population

Enterprises who have been issued a water abstraction permit or an integrated environmental permit

FRAME

Not applicable

3.7. Reference area

Estonia as a whole

Counties

3.8. Time coverage

1991–…

3.9. Base period

Not applicable

4. Unit of measure

BOD7 tonne, tonne, m³

5. Reference period

Year

6. Institutional mandate
6.1. Legal acts and other agreements

DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS

Not available

OTHER LEGAL ACTS

Eurostat/OECD Joint Questionnaire “State of Environment” part Inland Water

OTHER AGREEMENTS

European Environment Agency (EEA)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Eurostat/OECD Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters

7. Confidentiality
7.1. Confidentiality - policy

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

Not applicable

8. Release policy
8.1. Release calendar

Notifications about dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the Statistical Database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications are announced in the release calendar (in case of publications – the release month).

8.2. Release calendar access

http://www.stat.ee/release-calendar

8.3. User access

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the Statistical Database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the Statistical Database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

9. Frequency of dissemination

Annually

10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1. News release

Not published

10.2. Publications

Not published

10.3. Online database

Data are published under the subject area “Environment / Natural resources and their use” and “Environment / Environmental pressure” in the Statistical Database at http://pub.stat.ee.

10.4. Microdata access

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to micro-data and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes: http://www.stat.ee/dokumendid/51669.

10.5. Other

Data serve as input for statistical activities 10001 “Environmental trends”, 10601 “Material flow accounts”, 50101 “Regional development” and 50201 “Sustainable development indicators”.

10.6. Documentation on methodology

Data Collection Manual for the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters. Concepts, definitions, current practices, evaluations and recommendations, Eurostat (2008)

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/coded_files/OECD_ESTAT_JQ_Manual_version_2_21.pdf

10.7. Quality documentation

Not available

11. Quality management
11.1. Quality assurance

To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

11.2. Quality assessment

Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

12. Relevance
12.1. User needs

Ministry of the Environment

Ministry of the Interior

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI Tallinn)

Users’ suggestions and information about taking these into account are available on the website of Statistics Estonia at http://www.stat.ee/statistikatood.

12.2. User satisfaction

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia conducts reputation and user satisfaction surveys.

All results are available on the website at http://www.stat.ee/user-surveys.

12.3. Completeness

Complete for the territory of Estonia as a whole

13. Accuracy and reliability
13.1. Overall accuracy

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness.

13.2. Sampling error

Not applicable

13.3. Non-sampling error

Not measured

14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1. Timeliness

The data are published 300 days after the end of the reference year (T + 300).

14.2. Punctuality

The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

15. Coherence and comparability
15.1. Comparability - geographical

Not applicable

15.2. Comparability - over time

The data are comparable over time.

15.3. Coherence - cross domain

Water use statistics are in compliance with the statistical activity 10601 “Material flow accounts” and statistical activity 10001 “Environmental trends”.

15.4. Coherence - internal

The outputs of the statistical activity are coherent.

16. Cost and burden

–

17. Data revision
17.1. Data revision - policy

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the dissemination policy of Statistics Estonia at http://www.stat.ee/dissemination-policy.

17.2. Data revision - practice

The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available.

18. Statistical processing
18.1. Source data

SURVEY DATA

Not used

ADMINISTRATIVE DATA

The following data are received from the Estonian Environment Agency: water extraction by source and type of water, including extraction of ground water by aquifers and bodies of groundwater; water consumption by type of water and economic activity and by field of water use; wastewater discharge and pollution load by pollutant; wastewater discharge and pollution load by catchment area; wastewater discharge and pollution load by wastewater collection area; level and method of wastewater treatment by wastewater collection area; capacity of treatment plants covered by the Council Directive concerning urban wastewater treatment by amount of water treated, BOD by population equivalent; volume of sludge and sludge treatment method.

DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES

Not used

18.2. Frequency of data collection

Annually

18.3. Data collection

Enterprises which have been issued a water abstraction permit or an integrated environmental permit submit a report to the Environmental Board (by 15 February). The Environmental Board submits a report to the Estonian Environment Agency (by 1 March).

Statistics Estonia receives aggregated data together with the source data from the Estonian Environment Agency by e-mail.

18.4. Data validation

Arithmetic and qualitative controls are used in the validation process, including comparison with other data. Before data dissemination, the internal coherence of the data is checked. The data are compared with the data of previous periods and checked for inconsistencies.

18.5. Data compilation

The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional indicators. New variables are calculated by applying arithmetic conversion to already existing variables. Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis.

18.6. Adjustment

Not applicable

19. Comments

Not available

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stat [at] stat.ee

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