The Water-Economy Nexus and Sustainable Transition of the Pearl River Delta, China (1999–2015)

Lei Liu,Tong Wu,Zhihang Xu,Xiaofeng Pan

doi:10.3390/su10082595

Abstract

As the world’s largest urban area in both size and population, the rapid development of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) during past three decades has been accompanied by worsening water problems. This paper examines the water-economy nexus of the PRD from the perspectives of both water use and water quality between 1999 and 2015, with a Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition model as well as an Environmental Kuznets Curve model, in order to assess the sustainable transition of the area. The results show that in this period, while the water dependency of economic development went down by a significant extent, the efficiency gains did not prevail over problems caused by economic scale expansion. However, at the city level, the 2008 financial crisis stimulated an economic transformation of the main economies from being scale-dominated to being efficiency-dominated. From 2009 to 2015, the sewage decreases driven by water dependency of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan outweighed the sewage increases driven by economic scale. While sewage discharge increased, the river water quality of the PRD kept improving. We found an inverted “U”-shaped relationship between GDP per capita and water quality of the PRD, with GDP per capita = ¥14,228.27 as the inflection point for river water quality. Once dubbed the “factory floor” of the world, the PRD has moved into a less environmentally impactful phase of development, with more expenditure on environmental protection and policy reform. However, given the huge and ever-increasing economic and population scales, ensuring a sufficient and safe water supply through industrial recycling and public education, along with even further pollution abatement, will be particularly important.

Highlights

Water is indispensable for the survival and development of human society, but it is highly susceptible to overexploitation and pollution by anthropogenic activity
Ci(t) Si where WPIt is the water pollution index (WPI) of a region in year t, n is the number of water quality parameters, Ci(t) is the average measured concentration of the parameter i in different monitored sections of a region in year t, and Si is the maximum permitted concentrations (MPCs) for parameter i
The Pearl River Delta (PRD) is among the most water abundant regions in China [47], the enormous water demand driven by high speed economic growth and population influxes has made water shortages a challenging issue for the area, especially given the fact that future water use in the PRD is expected to continue increasing significantly

Summary

Introduction

Water is indispensable for the survival and development of human society, but it is highly susceptible to overexploitation and pollution by anthropogenic activity. Poor water quality and inadequate sanitation undermine public health, material living standards, and ecological integrity [1] It is already one of the most pressing environmental problems currently facing the world, with more than two billion people still lacking access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene [2]. As the world’s largest economy (in purchasing power parity terms; it is the second largest in market exchange rate terms) and most populous country, China’s per-capita freshwater resources only stand at 2100 m3, which is roughly 28% of the international average. This makes China one of the mostSwusatatinearbislictya2r0c1e8,c1o0,uxnFtOrRiePsEEinR RthEVeIwEWorld [5]. This makes China one of out otfh3e1mporostviwnacteesr, mscaorrceethcoaunnhtraielfs oifnththeewwaoterlrdin[5m]. aWjohrartiviserws owrsaes, gdruaedetoIVraopridbealnodwianctecnosridveing to Chinau’rsbnanaitziaotnioanl eanndviirnodnumsterinatlaizlaqtiuoanl,itthyisstsacanrdcaeradnsdfdoercsliunrifnagcsetowckathear— s bmeceoamneinsegvietrieslynpootleluvteend.sBuyitable for hu20m15a,nincoeingthatcot,umt oufc3h1 lpersosvcinocnessu, mmoprteiothna.nInhaslfevofentheprwoavtienrcinesm, tahjoerwrivaetersr wquasalgirtyadoefImV oorrebethloawn 20% of rivaecrcsorwdiansg btoelCohwinag’rsandaetioVn—almenevainroinmg eint tiasl quunasluitiytasbtalnedfaorrdsafnoyr spuurfrapcoeswea[t6er].—Tmheeanreinfogriet,isenosut ring safe aenvdenclseuaitnabwleaftoerr hreusmoaunrcceosnitsacut,nmduocuhbtleesdslycoonnsuemopf ttihoen.bIinggseevsetnchparollveingceess, fthoer Cwhatienraq’susaulitsytaoifnable develmoporme ethnatn, w20h%icohf mriveearns swsatsribkeilnogwagrgardeeatVe—r bmaelannicnegbiteitswuenesnuiittasbrleapfoirdasnoycpiouercpoonseo[m6]i.cTdherveefloorpe,ment and eennvsiurroinngmseanfetaalnpdroctleeacntiowna.ter resources is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges for China’s

Objectives

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Findings

Conclusion