State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Nat Commun. 2020 Jan 31;11(1):650. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14532-5.
Inadequate water quality can mean that water is unsuitable for a variety of human uses, thus exacerbating freshwater scarcity. Previous large-scale water scarcity assessments mostly focused on the availability of sufficient freshwater quantity for providing supplies, but neglected the quality constraints on water usability. Here we report a comprehensive nationwide water scarcity assessment in China, which explicitly includes quality requirements for human water uses. We highlight the necessity of incorporating water scarcity assessment at multiple temporal and geographic scales. Our results show that inadequate water quality exacerbates China's water scarcity, which is unevenly distributed across the country. North China often suffers water scarcity throughout the year, whereas South China, despite sufficient quantities, experiences seasonal water scarcity due to inadequate quality. Over half of the population are affected by water scarcity, pointing to an urgent need for improving freshwater quantity and quality management to cope with water scarcity.
水质不佳意味着水不适合各种人类用途，从而加剧了淡水短缺。以前的大规模水资源短缺评估主要集中在提供供应所需的足够淡水量上，但忽视了水可用性的质量限制。在这里，我们报告了中国的一项全面的全国性水资源短缺评估，其中明确包括了人类用水的质量要求。我们强调了在多个时间和地理尺度上进行水资源短缺评估的必要性。我们的研究结果表明，水质不佳加剧了中国的水资源短缺，而且这种短缺在全国范围内分布不均。华北地区经常全年面临水资源短缺，而尽管南方地区淡水量充足，但由于水质不佳，仍会出现季节性水资源短缺。超过一半的人口受到水资源短缺的影响，这迫切需要改善淡水数量和质量管理，以应对水资源短缺。
