Abstract
Excessive water consumption, associated with regional agriculture and livestock development and rapid urbanization, has caused significant stress to the ecological health and sustainable use of water resources. We used the water footprint theory to quantify the spatiotemporal characteristics and variation in the water footprint of agriculture and livestock (WF-AL) in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region of China (2000–2016). We predicted the spatial distribution and sustainability of regional water resources at different levels of annual precipitation. Results showed that the average county WF-AL rose from 8.03 × 108 m3 in 2000 to 10.89 × 108 m3 in 2016. There was spatial heterogeneity compared to the average city WF-AL. The WF-AL varied between the mountains and the plains. The scale of the WF-AL was one of the main reasons for differences in the consumption and distribution of water resources. The development of regional water resources deteriorated from a stable state to an unstable state from 2000 to 2016. Only 5.8% of the areas maintained a stable state of water resources. Even in the predicted wet years, no improvements were found in the instability of water resources in four areas centered on the counties of Xinji, Daming, Luannan, and Weichang. To achieve a medium and long-term balance between WF-AL development and water resource recovery, the WF-AL should be limited and combined with reservoir and cross-regional water transfer.
Highlights
The consumption of freshwater resources is an integral part of modern society but it has gradually become a limiting factor for society [1]
The allocation and restoration of regional water resources has become the focus of regional agriculture and livestock development
The results showed that in areas with complex terrain conditions, the spatial differences in the water footprint of agriculture and livestock (WF-AL) at the city level were not significant compared with those at county and terrain levels, making it difficult to explain the response relationship of water resources to the development of agriculture and livestock
Summary
The consumption of freshwater resources is an integral part of modern society but it has gradually become a limiting factor for society [1]. In 2017, the BTH region had per capita water resources of 286 m3/person, less than 30% of the international minimum standard [8,9]. The siphon effect of urbanization will increase the scale of regional agriculture and livestock development in the non-core urban areas of the BTH region, further increasing the demand for water resources [10,11]. 65% of the surface rivers in the BTH region are facing a shortage of water resources due to seasonal flows, as well as water shortages because of agricultural non-point source pollution and secondary pollution from transferred ecological water [12,13]. Regional agriculture and livestock development has caused significant stress on the ecological health of river water and the sustainable use of water resources in the BTH region [14]
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