Decoupling analysis of water use and economic development in arid region of China - Based on quantity and quality of water use

Yao Zhang; Wenxin Liu; Yu Cai; Sufyan Ullah Khan; Minjuan Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143275

Decoupling analysis of water use and economic development in arid region of China - Based on quantity and quality of water use

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Mar 20:761:143275. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143275. Epub 2020 Oct 29.

Authors

Yao Zhang¹, Wenxin Liu², Yu Cai³, Sufyan Ullah Khan⁴, Minjuan Zhao⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Economics and Management, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China. Electronic address: zhangyao0106@nwafu.edu.cn.
² College of Economics and Management, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China. Electronic address: liuwenxin@nwafu.edu.cn.
³ College of Economics and Management, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China. Electronic address: caiyu1785@nwsuaf.edu.cn.
⁴ College of Economics and Management, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China. Electronic address: sufyan@nwsuaf.edu.cn.
⁵ College of Economics and Management, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China. Electronic address: minjuan.zhao@nwafu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33168248
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143275

Abstract

Decoupling water use from economic development is a fundamental strategy to improve environmental quality from the source. It can promote economic growth while reducing water use and water pollution. This article uses water footprint theory to calculate the relevant indicators of the water quantity footprint and water quality footprint of the Northwest arid region between 1997 and 2017. This paper not only comprehensively consider the impact rate of economic development on water resource consumption and water pollution, but also analyzes the coordination of water resource utilization efficiency and economic development from the perspective of water resource flow, and make up for the deficiencies of pure consideration of water resource consumption. The results of the study show that in the past 20 years, the water resources utilization and economic development in Northwest arid region of China has shown relatively decoupling and weak negative decoupling, and the decoupling index of water quantity and water quality with economic development are 0.3377 and 0.3156, respectively. It shows that the dependence of economic development on water resources is gradually decreasing. However, the water shortage remains serious, this also shows that the efficiency of water use has not improved. Only if economic development is decoupled from water quantity and water quality at the same time, we can achieve sustainable development of water use and economy. We also found that the proportion of agricultural production water is too large, industrial water consumption is declining, and the proportion of domestic water consumption is increasing. There is a problem of unreasonable utilization structure and it can be seen from the wastewater discharge data that the discharge of industrial wastewater is declining. The government needs to focus on the wastewater treatment, strengthen the awareness regarding of water conservation at same time, and use stepped pricing standards to reasonably control water use.

Keywords: Arid region; Decoupling analysis; Economic development; Virtual water; Water quality footprint; Water quantity footprint.