this might also arise when some benefits are difficult to capture and translate into monetary terms as illustrated by the recent experiences with costbenefit assessment carried out in the european union in support to the implementation of the wfd in a few countries only see box although the wfd relates to the broader field of water resource management these examples are relevant as they show the ways in which information on costs and benefits of water investments can feed into the policymaking process in the case of the wfd however the main areas of benefits relate to environmental benefits associated with reaching good ecological status which are particularly difficult to quantify as these are linked largely to nonuse values