The Impact of Industrial Transformation on Water Use Efficiency in Northwest Region of China

Sustainability

Qingling Shi¹  Shiyi Chen¹  Chenchen Shi²  Zhan Wang³  Xiangzheng Deng³ 

[1] China Center for Economic Studies, School of Economics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; E-Mail:;State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; E-Mail:;Institute of Geographic and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; E-Mails:

关键词: industrial transformation;    water use efficiency;    (input-output) I-O analysis;    sustainable development;    water resources management;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su7010056

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

China has been stressing the needs of promoting regional sustainable development through industrial transformation. In the northwest region of China, which is faced with both urgent socioeconomic development and fragile ecological conditions, with water scarcity being one of the major characters, the relationship between industrial transformation and water use efficiency ought to be investigated. This paper conducted an empirical analysis of industry transformation’s impact on water use efficiency by using the Input-output analysis. First, we compiled an extended Input-output table with water use account; Second, the input-output analysis model was built based on the extended Input-output table; Then, a counterfactual experiment was performed to document the water use efficiency caused by industrial transformation; Finally, water use efficiency of different sectors in both northwest region of China as a whole and its five provinces were calculated. The results show that water use efficiency of northwest region of China is improved by optimizing industrial structure. Also, sectors with low water use efficiency but huge improvement potential were found out. Then policy implications for regional sustainable development and water resources management are provided at the end of the article.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.