Evaluation of regional water security using water poverty index.

Abstract

Water security is a widely concerned issue in the world nowadays. A new method, water poverty index (WPI), was applied to evaluate the regional water security. Twelve state farms in Heilongjiang Province, Northeastern China were selected to evaluate water security status based on the data of 2006 using WPI and mean deviation grading method. The method of WPI includes five key indices: resources(R), access (A), capacity(C), utilization (U) and environment (E). Each key index further consists of several sub-indices. According to the results of WPI, the grade of each farm was calculated by using the method of mean deviation grading. Thus, the radar images can be protracted of each farm. From the radar images, the conclusions can be drawn that the WPI values of Farm 853 and Hongqiling are under very safe status, while that of Farm Raohe is under safe status, those of Farms Youyi, 597, 852, 291 and Jiangchuan are under moderate safe status, that of Farm Beixing is under low safe status and those of Farm Shuangyashan, Shuguang and Baoshan are under unsafe status. The results from this study can provide basic information for decision making on rational utilization of water resources and regulations for regional water safety guarantee system. Keywords: mean deviation grading method, water poverty index, water security evaluation, weighted average method DOI: 10.3965/j.issn.1934-6344.2008.02.008-014 Citation: Fu Qiang, Gary Kachanoski, Liu Dong, Wang Zilong. Evaluation of regional water security using water poverty index. Int J Agric & Biol Eng. 2008; 1(2): 8