Abstract
Water resources are important and irreplaceable natural and economic resources. Achieving a balance between economic prosperity and protection of water resource environments is a major issue in China. This article develops a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach with undesirable outputs by using Seiford’s linear converting method to estimate water use efficiencies for 30 provinces in China, from 2008–2016,and then analyzes the influencing factors while using a DEA-Tobit model. The findings show that the overall water use efficiency of the measured Chinese provinces, when considering sewage emissions as the undesirable output, is 0.582. Thus, most regions still need improvement. Provinces with the highest water efficiency are located in economically developed Eastern China. The spatial pattern of water use efficiency in China is consistent with the general pattern of regional economic development. This study implies that factors like export dependence, technical progress, and educational value have a positive influence on water use efficiency. Further, while industrial structure has had a negative impact, government intervention has had little impact on water use efficiency. These research results will provide a scientific basis for the government to make plans for water resource development, and it may be helpful in improving regional sustainable development.
Highlights
Water resources are important and strategic economic and natural resources
China’s average water use efficiency is less than 1 for every year in the sample period, based on Equation (1), which implies that water use efficiency is not optimal
The mean value of water use efficiency is 0.582; gross domestic product per capita can potentially increase by 41.8% when the 30 provincial regions simultaneously improve water use efficiency
Summary
Water resources are important and strategic economic and natural resources. They form the basis of survival and development inhuman society. The world faces a severe water resource crisis because of resource shortages and pollution. This shortage has become a critical issue that restricts economic development. 1.8 billion people will face an absolute water shortage by. China’s Statistical Yearbook indicates that the total amount of waste water that is discharged from the nation in 2016 was 711 billion tons, and the total investment in environmental pollution controls accounted for 1.24% of China’s GDP [1]
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