Water pump and balance shaft

It should not be turning freely from the shaft, it is pinned to it. If the shaft itself is spinning freely, then it is no longer attached to the timing chain, or the balance shaft drive gear/idler gear.

Someone did a writeup of there tsi water pump replacement; http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75491 , showing the water pump sprocket and balance shaft sprocket with the water pump belt off. The balance shaft should not turn, as it is gear driven and meshed with the balance shaft drive gear (aka idler gear), which is sprocket driven by the timing chain.

Thank you Ken, that's kind of what I was afraid of! could this also affect the oil pressure, I know everything is basically ran off the timing chain side.

This might shed some light on the tsi engine, http://www.vaglinks.com/Docs/VW/Misc/VW.COM_2.0L_TSI_Turbo_SSP_824803.pdf , the oil pump is chain driven from the crank, on its own chain. I don't think the intake-side balancer shaft has anything to do with the oil pump.