State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, Tianjin University, 300072, Tianjin, PR China.
Frontier Technology Research Institute, Tianjin University, 301700, Tianjin, PR China.
Environ Manage. 2019 Mar;63(3):309-321. doi: 10.1007/s00267-018-1098-2. Epub 2018 Sep 21.
Investigation into water resources sustainability (WRS) is vital for a regional sustainable development strategy. This paper aimed to quantitatively evaluate the WRS in mainland China using a three-layer indicator system. Three important factors significantly affecting WRS are: water resources quantity (WRQ), water intensity (WI) and water efficiency (WE). Assessment of the three indicators was carried out in 356 cities where each indicator was graded from "very low" to "very high" according to the value magnitude. China was then classified into four zones to differentiate regional variations of the impact of water intensity and efficiency on sustainability. Results showed that 34% of the areas had "medium" to "high" WI indicator values and 58% of the areas had "low" to "very low" WE indicator values. The indicator values of WI were ordered as Zone I > Zone II > Zone III > Zone IV; whereas the WRS were ordered as: Zone I < Zone II < Zone III < Zone IV. It is recommended that water resource policies be turned to a more sustainable management strategy in areas with high WI and low WE. Zone I regions should be focused on particularly with limited resources and extreme exploitation. The results provide a valuable basis for macro-level decision-making concerned with regional sustainable development strategy for the entire mainland China.
水资源可持续性（WRS）的调查对于区域可持续发展战略至关重要。本文旨在采用三层指标体系，对中国大陆的 WRS 进行定量评估。有三个重要因素显著影响 WRS：水资源量（WRQ）、水强度（WI）和水效率（WE）。根据价值大小，对这三个指标在 356 个城市中的每一个指标进行了“非常低”到“非常高”的评分。然后，中国被分为四个区，以区分水强度和效率对可持续性影响的区域差异。结果表明，34%的地区具有“中”到“高”的 WI 指标值，58%的地区具有“低”到“非常低”的 WE 指标值。WI 指标值的顺序为：区 I>区 II>区 III>区 IV；而 WRS 的顺序为：区 I<区 II<区 III<区 IV。建议在 WI 高、WE 低的地区将水资源政策转向更可持续的管理策略。应特别关注资源有限和极度开发的区 I 地区。研究结果为整个中国大陆的区域可持续发展战略的宏观决策提供了有价值的依据。
