Ma Jing, Hoekstra Arjen Y, Wang Hao, Chapagain Ashok K, Wang Dangxian
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research Department of Water Resources No. 20 Chegongzhuang West Road, Haidian District, 100044 Beijing, China.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2006 May 29;361(1469):835-42. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2005.1644.
North China faces severe water scarcity--more than 40% of the annual renewable water resources are abstracted for human use. Nevertheless, nearly 10% of the water used in agriculture is employed in producing food exported to south China. To compensate for this 'virtual water flow' and to reduce water scarcity in the north, the huge south-north Water Transfer Project is currently being implemented. This paradox--the transfer of huge volumes of water from the water-rich south to the water-poor north versus transfer of substantial volumes of food from the food-sufficient north to the food-deficit south--is receiving increased attention, but the research in this field has not yet reached further than rough estimation and qualitative description. The aim of this paper is to review and quantify the volumes of virtual water flows between the regions in China and to put them in the context of water availability per region. The analysis shows that north China annually exports about 52 billion m3 of water in virtual form to south China, which is more than the maximum proposed water transfer volume along the three routes of the Water Transfer Project from south to north.
中国北方面临严重的水资源短缺问题——每年超过40%的可再生水资源被抽取用于人类用途。然而，农业用水中近10%用于生产出口到中国南方的粮食。为了弥补这种“虚拟水流”并减少北方的水资源短缺，目前正在实施庞大的南水北调工程。这种矛盾现象——从水资源丰富的南方调运大量水到水资源匮乏的北方，与此同时从粮食充足的北方调运大量粮食到粮食短缺的南方——正受到越来越多的关注，但该领域的研究目前仍停留在粗略估算和定性描述阶段。本文旨在回顾并量化中国各地区之间的虚拟水流总量，并将其置于各地区水资源可利用量的背景下进行考量。分析表明，中国北方每年以虚拟形式向南方出口约520亿立方米的水，这一水量超过了南水北调工程三条线路规划的最大调水量。
