How is water collection, treatment and supply classified in ISIC Rev. 5?

Water collection, treatment and supply in ISIC Rev. 5, published by the UN Statistics Division, covers collecting water from natural sources, treating it to a usable standard and supplying it through a distribution system. It includes the operation of reservoirs, treatment works and pipe networks that deliver water to homes, businesses and other users. The focus is the service of making water available, not the ownership of the water source or the price charged for it. Any code used in a register or survey must be confirmed with the national statistical institute or business register that holds the record.

What happens between a river and a tap, in statistical terms?

Follow the water. First it is collected from a natural source, such as a river, a lake or groundwater. Then it is treated at a works to a usable standard. Then it travels through mains and networks to homes, businesses and other users. Each step is part of one continuing service: making water available, reliably, through a system. The service does not end when a reservoir fills, and it does not begin when a tap opens. It is the whole chain, operated together, that the description captures.

How does the regional water company example work, in detail?

A regional water company that abstracts water, treats it at a plant and delivers it through mains to a town illustrates this activity clearly. Abstraction is the collection step, taking water from its source into the system. Treatment is the processing step, bringing that water to a usable standard at the plant. Delivery is the distribution step, moving treated water through pipes to users across the town, day after day. If any one step were missing, the service would be incomplete: untreated water is not a supply service in this sense, and treated water sitting in a plant with no network reaches no user.

Contrast a plumber who fits taps in one house. Water is involved in both cases, and the plumber’s work matters to the householder, but the plumber does not operate the chain. The plumber works inside a single property, on fittings, for a single job. The water company operates reservoirs, works and networks as a continuing system. The scale, the continuity and the system itself separate the two descriptions, even though both involve water arriving at a tap.

What sits just outside water supply?

Bottling water for sale as a packaged product and installing household plumbing are described elsewhere. Bottling turns water into a packaged product for sale, which is closer to product manufacturing and trade than to network supply. Plumbing installation is a construction related service, performed job by job inside properties, rather than the operation of a distribution network. Neither should be read as the network supply activity described here, even though both mention water.

Mixed cases still need care. A firm that both provides a network service and arranges a service, or both builds and operates, performs more than one kind of work. Mixed cases are handled by a principal activity rule in statistical practice, and this guide does not apply that rule to any reader, because the rule needs data about the whole unit that a guide cannot see.

Which kinds of work are included?

The following kinds of work are described in ISIC Rev. 5, published by the UN Statistics Division, as part of this grouping:

• Collection of water from rivers, lakes and groundwater
• Treatment of water for supply purposes
• Distribution of water through mains and networks
• Operation of water supply infrastructure
• Supply of water for varied uses through a network

That list is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the full class description. When the heading fits but the detail in water collection treatment and supply does not, let the detail in the Rev. 5 publication prevail, and ask the national institute about a formal record. The list also shows the chain again, in short form: collect, treat, distribute, operate, supply.

How can you use this guide without overstating it?

Share this guide with its limits in mind: it is general information about a statistical classification. Anyone who needs a formal code, a licence or advice for a specific situation should go to the national statistical institute, the business register or the relevant regulator, as appropriate. A guide can explain a description. It cannot replace the holder of the record.

All code statements on water collection treatment and supply in this guide trace back to the UN Statistics Division classification detail and the ISIC Rev. 5 publication in the frontmatter.

To close on the guardrail itself: this is a statistical classification only, it does not determine your code, your principal activity or your registration, and you should confirm any of those with the national statistical institute or business register that holds your record before relying on them.