'Asian water towers' are not a sustainable solution to the downstream water crisis

Xuejing Leng; Xiaoming Feng; Bojie Fu; Qidong Shi; Haipeng Ye; Yu Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159237

'Asian water towers' are not a sustainable solution to the downstream water crisis

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jan 15;856(Pt 2):159237. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159237. Epub 2022 Oct 6.

Authors

Xuejing Leng¹, Xiaoming Feng², Bojie Fu¹, Qidong Shi¹, Haipeng Ye¹, Yu Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, and Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Institute of Geomatics, Department of Civil Engineering, 3S Centre, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, and Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Institute of Geomatics, Department of Civil Engineering, 3S Centre, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: fengxm@rcees.ac.cn.

PMID: 36208743
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159237

Abstract

Quantifying climate change- and socioeconomic development-induced changes in the 'water tower' function is a major challenge in high-mountain Asia (HMA), especially when considering the affected downstream areas. This study applies historical monsoon-influenced rainfall patterns and the water stress index to quantify the climate change- and socioeconomic growth-induced changes in the 'Asian water tower' function through the middle of the 21st century by nonparametric empirical quantile mapping and empirical orthogonal function analysis. Water pressures are predicted to intensify in 25.84 ± 7.87 % of 'water tower' downstream watersheds. Enhancements in the 'Asian water tower' function are vulnerable to help stop the deterioration of downstream water pressure while increasing the water sufficiency probability by 7.97 ± 15.52 %. Water withdrawals are projected to explain 55.90 ± 21.77 % of water security in the 'water tower' function-affected watersheds in 2050; thus, this study calls for more effective policies and the development of technologies to reduce the water crisis in downstream HMA.

Keywords: Climate change; High-mountain Asia; Water stress; Water tower.

MeSH terms

Asia
Climate Change*