Evolution and driving forces of water use structures in China

Abstract

Obtaining the changing characteristics of water use structures and the driving factors is vital for predicting future water use and solving contradictions between the supply and demand of regional water to supply water for economic and social development. While many studies analyzed the structure of water use, few analyzed the diversification and concentration characteristics of sophisticated water use sectors classifications. This study quantified the diversification and concentration indicators (diversification index, dominance and evenness) of water use structure based on the water use data of nine water use sectors in all provinces of China from 2001 to 2020, revealed the characteristics of diversification and concentration evolution of water use structure in each province of China, constructed water use structure influence factors and factor sets, and identified the drivers of water use structure evolution using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index model. The main results are as follows: (1) the water use structures varied greatly between provinces, with provinces with high levels of economic and social development having more complex water use structures and a higher degree of diversification; (2) from 2001 to 2020, the major water use sectors controlled the water use structure to a lesser extent and the water use structure tended to be diversified and uniform; (3) economic development was the main driving factor of water use structure changes in China, and each province could adjust its industrial structure according to the local water resources endowment conditions to optimize its water use structure. (4) compared to the four traditional water use sectors used in previous studies, the nine water use sectors used in this study better reflected the evolution characteristics of regional water use structures.