A Comparative Study of the Driving Factors of Water Resources Use Efficiency in China’s Agricultural and Industrial Sectors

Abstract

The efficient use of water resources has become an important topic in China. Research on measurement and driving factors is the foundation for improving water resources use efficiency (WRUE). In this paper, the super-efficiency slacks-based measure (SE-SBM) model is used to measure the WRUE of China from 2005 to 2021. The agricultural carbon emissions and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in industrial wastes are taken as undesirable by-products. The driving factors of WRUE are discussed with use of the Tobit regression model. The results show that China’s agricultural WRUE ranges from 1.185 in Jilin to 0.687 in Ningxia. In the industrial sector, the WRUE ranges from 1.399 in Beijing to Jiangxi 0.212. The economic structure and development level, water resources endowment, government influence and environmental regulation, agricultural planting scale and urbanization rate have impacts on WRUE. Precautionary measures need to be applied to prevent inefficient WRUE caused by the declining share of the industrial sector in the economic structure. More financial support should be focused on water-saving irrigation in agriculture and energy and resource efficiency in industry. The organizational structure and technological advantages of urbanization should also be emphasized in efforts to improve water efficiency.