A Coupled Allocation for Regional Initial Water Rights in Dalinghe Basin, China

Min Ge,Xiao-Ping Chen,Feng-Ping Wu

doi:10.3390/su9030428

Abstract

Regional initial water rights is a crucial part of initial water rights and clarification of it is an essential method to improve the efficiency of water use. It also promotes sustainable use of valuable water resources. Consequently, under new circumstances of China’s most stringent water resources management, with water quantity and quality control, we propose a new perspective for a coupled allocation model of regional initial water rights for a typical river basin. Firstly, we design an index system following principles of the “Three Red Lines” considering the real situation of Dalinghe River Basin, China. Then, under the control of total water use, we establish an allocation model of regional initial water quantity rights by the projection pursuit technology. Secondly, under total pollutant discharge control, we established an allocation model of regional initial pollutant discharge rights considering optimized objectives of economy and society. Thirdly, considering both regional initial water quantity rights and the regional pollutant discharge rights above, we provide an incentive function to build a coupled allocation model for regional initial water rights of Dalinghe River Basin. Finally, according to the scenario of the water frequency 50% and planning year 2030, the research finding shows Chaoyang City obtains the largest quantity of regional initial water rights, followed by Jinzhou, Fuxin, Panjin and Huludao, sequentially, which approximately match the pilot plans of China’s Ministry of Water Resources. The empirical research about Dalinghe River Basin further verifies effectiveness of the model in this paper. It also provides scientific decision support for implementing China’s most stringent water resources management for Dalinghe River Basin.

Highlights

Global warming and rapid development of social economy have sharpened the water resources supply–demand conflict, resulting in a series of severe water problems including water scarcity, accumulation of water pollution, over-pumping of aquifers and frequent floods in river basins with fragile ecologies in China
Since initial regional water rights is composed of two sections, the initial regional water quantity rights and the initial regional pollutant discharge rights, to solve the above issues, we propose a coupled allocation model controlling both water quantity and water quality, which can well match the new needs of China’s most stringent water resources management
Most previous research on allocation for regional initial water rights only considered the quantity components of that allocation, not the quality aspects. Under both constraints of water quantity and quality, we provide a new perspective for coupled allocation model of regional initial water rights for Dalinghe River

Summary

Introduction

Global warming and rapid development of social economy have sharpened the water resources supply–demand conflict, resulting in a series of severe water problems including water scarcity, accumulation of water pollution, over-pumping of aquifers and frequent floods in river basins with fragile ecologies in China. As the availability of water is becoming a major constraint to achieve harmony between economic and social sustainable development, on 29 January 2011, Central. Document No 1 was published by Chinese government. This document title was “Decision on Accelerating China’s Reform and Water Conservancy Development” [1]. In this document, implementing China’s most stringent water resources management becomes a crucial element [2]. In 2012, Chinese government issued another document titled “State Council Opinions on Implementation of China’s Most Stringent Water Resources Management”.

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Results

Conclusion