Efficiency analysis of metacoupling of water transfer based on the parallel data envelopment analysis model: A case of the South–North Water Transfer Project-Middle Route in China

Abstract

The deepening of globalization and the rapid socio-economic development have contributed to the increasing demand for water resources, which intensified the problem of water shortage. Cross-regional water transfer is an effective measure to alleviate the contradiction between the supply and demand of regional water resources. However, due to the strong interaction among the water source area, water-receiving area and the downstream of the water source area in the water transfer project, how to measure the impact of metacoupling of water transfer remains to be explored. Firstly, this study constructs the input and output indicators of the model. The input indicators are mainly based on Water Transfer, while the output indicators emphasize the economic, social and ecological benefits of water used by provinces and cities, which facilitates the measurement of the metacoupling. Secondly, the evaluation framework for the parallel data envelopment analysis (DEA) model of metacoupling of water transfer was built from the perspective of efficiency. This framework divides the metacoupling of the water transfer project into intracoupling, pericoupling and telecoupling, and opens the internal structure of the traditional DEA system. By calculating the efficiency of each system and using the weighted average method, the overall efficiency and the efficiency of each part of water transfer can be evaluated. In addition, the overall efficiency can be optimized by adjusting the proportion of water resources. The main results are: (Ⅰ) The overall water efficiency of the Middle Route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project is high, at above 0.7, with intracoupling(0.605)<pericoupling(0.818)<telecoupling(1.088). (II) The water source area and the downstream area have the most obvious improvement in water consumption efficiency, while the northern water-receiving areas have shown small improvement. The evaluation of water utilization efficiency can help to identify problems such as irrational water use structure, inefficient water consumption and water waste, and the water utilization efficiency can be improved by optimizing the proportion of water transfer.