Returning flows of water from the economy to the environment, particularly wastewaters, are highly important contributors to the quality of freshwater resources and the health of aquatic ecosystems. While the total loads of various harmful substances received by wastewater treatment facilities are often measured and reported, the origins of these loads are generally not allocated to specific industries. Instead, they pass from treatment facilities to the environment and are thus simply attributed to arising from the sewerage industry. In this study, we introduce a method for employing high-quality water accounting of the phosphorous and nitrogen loads and apply it to the Finnish economy. We also introduce a means for assessing the quality of the resulting accountancies and, for our Finnish case study, we show a close correspondence between independent top-down and bottom-up calculations, indicating the figures are highly reliable. We thus conclude, firstly, that the presented methodology can produce versatile and reliable data on different wastewater-related loads in the water; secondly, that such data can assist in developing appropriate mitigation strategies; and, thirdly, that the data may also be applied in further sustainability analyses, such as in environmentally extended input–output modelling.

从经济体返回环境的水流，特别是废水，对于淡水资源的质量和水生生态系统的健康具有非常重要的贡献。虽然废水处理设施收到的各种有害物质的总负荷经常被测量和报告，但这些负荷的来源通常不分配给特定行业。相反，它们从处理设施转移到环境中，因此简单地归因于污水处理行业的产生。在这项研究中，我们介绍了一种采用高质量水核算磷和氮负荷的方法，并将其应用于芬兰经济。我们还引入了一种评估会计结果质量的方法，对于我们的芬兰案例研究，我们展示了独立的自上而下和自下而上计算之间的紧密对应关系，表明这些数字是高度可靠的。因此，我们的结论是，首先，所提出的方法可以产生水中不同废水相关负荷的通用且可靠的数据；其次，此类数据有助于制定适当的缓解战略；第三，这些数据还可以应用于进一步的可持续性分析，例如环境扩展的投入产出模型。