one way in which scarcity of water could be reflected in water prices would be to link them to indicators of water scarcity in the relevant river basins indeed a system of such indicators that allows the development of water resources to be determined in real time has been developed with the implementation of the latest national hydrologic plan current legislation does not create any room for charging for environmental costs from water abstractions that result from changes in water flows river morphology or water quality and their impacts on human health and ecosystems although this is required by the european water framework directive