Socioeconomic drivers of water use in China during 2002–2017

Abstract

Rapid socioeconomic transitions have significantly influenced water use in China. This study aims to evaluate the water use implications of the changes in China’s economic development patterns and urbanization process. We quantify the relative contributions of various socioeconomic factors to water use changes during 2002–2017, based on environmentally extended input-output analysis and structural decomposition analysis. The results show that China’s water use has increased by 58 billion m3 during 2002–2012, and then decreased by 13 billion m3 during 2012–2017. Water use efficiency gains and economic structural improvements effectively offset the increase in water use, which is driven by the rising final demand level and growing population. Slight changes in inter-sectoral transactions of water intensive sectors would lead to significant influences on the effects of production structure changes on water use changes. Thus, close attention should be paid to the changes in production structures of these sectors. In addition, the effects of the urbanization process are mainly reflected by the growing gaps between water uses caused by rural and urban households, as well as increased urbanization-related water use. This is notably driven by intensive investments in construction activities. Water conservation policies in China should specially focus on the optimization of production structure, such as improving the production efficiency of sectors with large consumption-based water use.