South-North Water Transfer Project Research Articles

Role of Pacific Ocean climate in regulating runoff in the source areas of water transfer projects on the Pacific Rim

Over the past two decades, more frequent and intense climate events have seriously threatened the operation of water transfer projects in the Pacific Rim region. However, the role of climatic change in driving runoff variations in the water source areas of these projects is unclear. We used tree-ring data to reconstruct changes in the runoff of the Hanjiang River since 1580 CE representing an important water source area for China’s south-north water transfer project. Comparisons with hydroclimatic reconstructions for the southwestern United States and central Chile indicated that the Pacific Rim region has experienced multiple coinciding droughts related to ENSO activity. Climate simulations indicate an increased likelihood of drought occurrence in the Pacific Rim region in the coming decades. The combination of warming-induced drought stresses with dynamic El Niño (warming ENSO) patterns is a thread to urban agglomerations and agricultural regions that rely on water transfer projects along the Pacific Rim.

Inter-basin water transfers and water rebound effects: The South-North water transfer Project in China

Inter-basin water transfers (IBWTs) aimed at mitigating uneven spatial distribution of water offer the potential to save water through changes in water use efficiency. However, the water rebound effect induced by the improved water use efficiency may offset the water-saving effect of IBWTs. Existing studies failed to explain this complex association between IBWTs and the water rebound effect. A conceptual framework of IBWTs and the water rebound effect is proposed in this study, and the causal association between the two and the possible mechanisms involved are scrutinized in the case of China’s South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP). This study argues a causal association between SNWTP and the mitigation of water rebound effects, which is usually associated with the SNWTP’s ability to change the industrial structure and enhance environmental regulation intensity in water-receiving areas. In addition, SNWTP also improves water availability and reduces water use efficiency, thus indirectly mitigating the water rebound effect. Finally, the influence of SNWTP on water rebound tends to vary depending on the economic and demographic differences in water-receiving areas.

Deformation mechanism and treatment effect of deeply excavated expansive soil slopes with high groundwater level: Case study of MR-SNWTP, China

Taking a 4 km long deeply excavated expansive soil canal segment of the South–North Water Transfer Project Middle Route (MR-SNWTP) in China as an example, a comprehensive investigation of the deformation mechanism and effect of treatment work on the slope with high groundwater level was carried out. First, the project background and initial behaviour were introduced. Second, a series of site investigation, including visual inspection, exploration pit, and geological penetrating radar, was employed to identify the deformation characteristics, appearance damage, and groundwater distribution. Third, the environmental factors were analyzed, and the spatio-temporal deformation characteristics were identified. Then the zoned numerical model was built to analyze the slope stability. Finally, the deformation mechanism and effect of treatment work were discussed. The results show that although the slope surface was replaced with a cement-treated weak expansive soil layer, the water vapor exchange between the undisturbed expansive soils and atmosphere is not completely isolated. The perched groundwater is also still replenished by precipitation infiltration. Groundwater, perched groundwater, long-large fissure and dense fissure zone induce the lateral creep deformation of the slope, and result in significant trend changes. The stability of the deformed body is in a critical state. The critical sliding surface is a broken line consisting of a gentle dip angle at the leading edge and a steep dip angle at the trailing edge. The depth of the potential sliding surface varies due to the geological condition and arrangement of anti-slide piles. Drainage wells can discharge deeper groundwater, thus can lower groundwater level and discharge perched groundwater. Supporting and unloading measures should also be taken to improve the slope stability.

Territorial Pluralism in China: Local Water Users’ Adaptation Strategies in the South–North Water Transfer Project

China’s South–North Water Transfer Project has been questioned as it has resulted in significantly negative issues. Drawing on the notion of hydrosocial territories, this article examines the contested hydraulic configuration and counter-imaginaries from local water users’ perspectives and their specific adaptation strategies in the South–North Water Transfer Project. This article argues that local water users in a Chinese context can only adopt adaptation strategies that are determined by their socio-economic backgrounds. This has led to significant social and environmental injustice. Addressing these issues is crucial for tackling inequities in the South–North Water Transfer Project and achieving the ambitious development goals of the project.

Rolling predictive control of tandem multi-canal pools based on water level elasticity intervals: A case study of the South-North water diversion middle route project

Study regionThe Middle Route of the South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWDMRP) is a major water transfer project to optimize the spatial allocation of water resources in China. Study focusIt is difficult for traditional flow adjustment to ensure the safe operation of open-channel water transfer projects. In this study, the Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) water level prediction model is combined with the elastic interval water level control method to achieve rolling prediction control of the water level in front of the gates of a single pool, and then the model is coupled with storage compensation algorithm for prediction control of the water level of the gate group of tandem multi-canal pools. The method is applied to the SNWDMRP, and the results show that the new method is stable within the restricted water level for both single and multiple canal pools. Moreover, the control algorithm proposed in this study can make full use of the storage capacity to satisfy the need of multiple scheduling scenarios

Water Afar Off Quenches Not Thirst? The Health Benefits of the South–North Water Transfer Project in China

Water Afar Off Quenches Not Thirst? The Health Benefits of the South–North Water Transfer Project in China

Sources and hydrogeochemical processes of groundwater under multiple water source recharge condition

Ecological water replenishment (EWR) is an essential approach for improving the quantity and quality of regional water. The Chaobai River is a major river in Beijing that is replenished with water from multiple sources, including reclaimed water (RW), the South-North Water Transfer Project (SNTP), reservoir discharge (RD). The effects of multiple water source recharge (MWSR) on groundwater quality remain unclear. In this study, hydrochemical ions, isotopes (δ2H-H2O, δ18O-H2O, δ15N-NO3−, and δ18O-NO3−), mixing stable isotope analysis in R (MixSIAR), and hydrogeochemical modeling were used to quantify the contributions and impacts of different water sources on groundwater and to propose a conceptual model. The results showed that during the period before reservoir discharge, RW and SNTP accounted for 38 %–41 % and 54 % of the groundwater in their corresponding recharge areas, respectively. The groundwater in the RW recharge area contained high levels of Na+ and Cl− leading to the precipitation of halite, and was the main factor for the spatial variation in groundwater hydrochemical components. The surface water changed from Na·K – Cl·SO4 type to Ca·Mg – HCO3 type which was similar to groundwater after reservoir discharge. RD accounted for 30 % of the groundwater; however, it did not change the hydrochemical type of groundwater. Dual nitrate stable isotopes and MixSIAR demonstrated that RW was the primary source of NO3− in groundwater, contributing up to 76–89 %, and reservoir discharge effectively reduced the contribution of RW. δ15N-NO3− or δ18O-NO3− in relation to NO3-N suggests that denitrification is the main biogeochemical process of nitrogen in groundwater, whereas water recharge from the SNTP and RD reduces denitrification and dilutes NO3−. This study provides insights into the impact of anthropogenically controlled ecological water replenishment from different water sources on groundwater and guides the reasonable allocation of water resources.

Do water-saving policies improve water-use technical efficiency? Evidence from the water-receiving cities of China’s South–North Water Transfer Project

ABSTRACT China has implemented a series of water-saving policies in response to the growing threat of water shortages. However, it remains unclear whether these water-saving policies, which aim to reduce water-use intensity, will actually improve water-use technical efficiency. This study scrutinizes water-use technical efficiency within an extended human-environment framework by using the case of China's South–North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP). An improved estimation method for water-use technical efficiency based on stochastic frontier analysis is adopted to empirically investigate the variations in water-use intensity and technical efficiency in the SNWTP's water-receiving cities. This study argues that there is no definitive link between improvements in water-use technical efficiency and decreases in water-use intensity, and thus water-saving policies oriented toward reducing water-use intensity do not necessarily increase water-use technical efficiency. In addition, achieving the goals of water-saving policies by reducing water use intensity alone remains challenging and requires improving the water-use technical efficiency caused by endogenous technological progress. Finally, setting a unified target to reduce water-use intensity leads to inequitable sharing of water-saving tasks between regions, resulting in conflicts of interest among government bureaucracies.

Receiving Robust Analysis of Spatial and Temporary Variation of Agricultural Water Use Efficiency While Considering Environmental Factors: On the Evaluation of Data Envelopment Analysis Technique

With accelerated urbanisation, continued growth in water demand and the external pressure of water demand from the South–North Water Transfer Project, agricultural water use in Jiangsu is facing a critical situation. Therefore, it is important to explore the spatial and temporal variation in agricultural water use efficiency in order to clarify the pathway for improving agricultural water use efficiency. Firstly, the Super-Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model was utilized to measure agricultural water use efficiency in Jiangsu Province, China, from 2011 to 2020, and secondly, a fixed-effects model was used to investigate agricultural water use efficiency and the factors influencing it in 13 prefectures in Jiangsu Province in both time and space. The results show that (1) the overall value of agricultural water use efficiency in Jiangsu Province is below 1, which means that agricultural water use efficiency in Jiangsu Province is low and far from the effective boundary, and there is more room for improvement in agricultural water use efficiency; (2) a total of 92% of prefectures in Jiangsu Province have input redundancy, which seriously inhibits the progress of agricultural water use efficiency in Jiangsu Province, among which the redundancy of total agricultural machinery power and agricultural water use is the highest; (3) Regarding total factor productivity and its decomposition index for agricultural use in Jiangsu Province, in the time dimension, the number of professional and technical personnel inputs has a positive impact on agricultural water use efficiency. In the spatial dimension, the number of professional and technical personnel inputs, industrial structure and arable land area have a positive impact on improving regional agricultural water use efficiency, among which the industrial structure has a smaller contribution to agricultural water use efficiency.

Method for quantitatively assessing the impact of an inter-basin water transfer project on ecological environment-power generation in a water supply region

To tackle ever-changing global water problems, inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) projects provide water supply alternatives for water-scarce regions and create potential risks for water-supply regions. To analyze the multiple interrelated impacts of IBWT projects on supply regions, in this study, we establish a cascade multi-objective complementary optimal scheduling model and apply the model to the water supply regions of the west route of China’s South-North Water Transfer Project and the Dadu-Minjiang Water Transfer Project. With the goal of fully utilizing water resources to gain comprehensive benefits, we objectively and quantitatively evaluate the impacts of IBWT projects on the ecology and hydropower generation of water supply regions. To reduce the complexity of solving the model, the model is decomposed into a two-stage optimization model and is solved with particle swarm optimization and fuzzy optimization. The results show that: (1) The multi-objective model that simultaneously considers minimal ecological water shortage degree, maximal power generation, and the maximization of the annual minimum output is more conducive to the full utilization of water resources. (2) The factors affecting the ecological flow, the power generation and its structure in the water supply region, and the annual minimum output are different. (3) To deal with risks, the upstream power station in the water supply region is controlled to meet the ecological needs as the primary goal, and the downstream power station is mainly responsible for the task of compensating and adjusting the output gap during the dry season. This study can provide technical support for the demonstration and decision-making of IBWT projects, and it explores the ideas of water resource planning and management.

Optimal operation toward energy efficiency of the long-distance water transfer project

Energy efficiency plays an important role in the sustainable operation of the world's largest water transfer project, i.e., China’s South-to-North Water Transfer Project, by reducing its energy-related operating costs. However, effective energy-saving measures are still under development for the project due to its huge scale and complexity. An optimized operational model was established in this study to reduce the energy use of the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project by optimally scheduling the water-pumping process of the different pumps along the transfer route in the context of hydrological variability. The optimized operational rules and recommended operational parameters were obtained. The results show that the proposed operational rules in the form of piecewise functions can reduce the water pumping of the project, thus providing a basis for reducing energy consumption. The energy use of the project’s water pumping could also be reduced in the wet years by using the local water in midstream lakes along the transfer route rather than the pumped water from the Yangtze River at the southern terminus of the route. In addition, it was also found that the initial water storage of the lakes along the southern part of the route has a greater impact on the volume of the water pumping. Raising the water levels of these southern lakes using local runoff at the beginning of a year would help reduce the subsequent water pumping from the Yangtze River and the relative energy use of the project. In addition. the key areas for energy-saving along the eastern route of the South–North Water Transfer Project were identified, providing new insights for understanding the water-energy nexus behaviors of a long-distance water transfer project.

Contributors

Previous article FreeContributorsPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreWei Chen (陈玮) is assistant professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her research interests include comparative political economy, political economy of contemporary China, especially government-business relations in China.Emile Dirks is a postdoctoral fellow at The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School, University of Toronto. His research on policing and biometric surveillance in China has been published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and The Citizen Lab, and he is a frequent contributor to international media on these subjects.Yuefang Duan is a professor of resettlement economics at China Three Gorges University in the School of Economics and Management and the director of the Research Center for Reservoir Resettlement. His research interests mainly focus on involuntary resettlement that is caused by development projects. He has been involved in numerous research projects and published more than 80 papers on Chinese resettlement policies and practice.Diana Fu is an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto and nonresident fellow at Brookings Institution. Her research portfolio includes civil society, repression, authoritarian citizenship, diaspora activism, and labor politics. She is the author of the award-winning book Mobilizing without the Masses: Control and Contention in China (Cambridge, 2018). She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College.Jiying Jiang (蒋佶颖) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests include Chinese politics and policymaking, legislative process, and bureaucratic politics. Her dissertation examines the political logic of ambiguity in Chinese national statutes.Shu Keng (耿曙) is a university research fellow at the School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University. His research interests include comparative political economy, Chinese local governments, and cross-Strait relations. His recent publications include a book, Making Governments Work in China (in Chinese, 2022), a co-edited textbook, Comparative Politics (in Chinese, 2021), and several articles in China Journal, China Quarterly, and Journal of Contemporary China.Sarah Rogers is a senior lecturer in contemporary Chinese studies at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne. She is a geographer who studies social, political, and environmental change in China. Her research interests include hydropolitics, poverty alleviation, resettlement, agrarian change, and climate adaptation. She is a chief investigator on two Australian Research Council Discovery Projects: one on the technopolitics of China’s South-North Water Transfer project (2017–22) and one on the restructuring of China’s agricultural sector (2018–22).Ju-Han Zoe Wang is a lecturer in environment and development at James Cook University. Her research expertise includes environmental governance, agrarian change, rural development, indigenous knowledge, and migration. She has been conducting research looking at the influence of various environmental, development, and agrarian interventions (e.g., NGO projects, government policy, and commodity markets) on natural resource uses in China.Brooke Wilmsen is a senior lecturer in development studies in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University, Australia. A former Australia Research Council DECRA holder and current Australian Research Council Discovery Project Chief Investigator on restructuring of China’s agricultural sector (2018–22), her research interests include forced displacement, involuntary resettlement, climate adaptation, social protection, and agrarian change.Siyi Zhang (张思意) is a PhD student at the Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University. Her research interests include personnel management in the public sector and local government behavior in China. She has recently published an article in China Quarterly.Tan Zhao (赵檀) is assistant professor at the School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China. His research focuses on rural governance in contemporary China. Previous article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 89January 2023 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/722961 © 2023 The Australian National University. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Inverted Algorithm of Groundwater Storage Anomalies by Combining the GNSS, GRACE/GRACE-FO, and GLDAS: A Case Study in the North China Plain

As the largest groundwater drainage region in China, the per capita water resources in the North China Plain (NCP) account for only one-seventh of the country’s available water resources. Currently, the NCP is experiencing a serious water shortage due to the overexploitation of groundwater resources and a subsequent series of natural disasters. Thus, accurate regional assessments and effective water resource management policies are of critical importance. To accomplish this phenomenon, the daily terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) over the NCP is calculated from the combination of the GNSS vertical deformation sequences (seasonal items) and GRACE (trend items). The groundwater storage anomaly (GWSA) in the NCP is obtained by subtracting the canopy water, soil water, and snow water equivalent components from the TWSA. The inversion results of this study are verified by comparisons with the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) data products. The elevated annual amplitude areas are located in Beijing and Tianjin, and the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), root mean square error (RMSE), and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) between the two GWSA results are 0.67, 4.01 cm, and 0.61, respectively. This indicates that the methods proposed in this study are reliable. Finally, the groundwater drought index was calculated for the period from 2011 to 2021, and the results showed that 2019 was the driest year, with a drought severity index value of −0.12, indicative of slightly moderate drought conditions. By calculating and analyzing the annual GWSA, this work shows that the South–North Water Transfer Project does provide some regional drought mitigation.

Research on Intelligent Crack Detection in a Deep-Cut Canal Slope in the Chinese South–North Water Transfer Project

The Chinese South–North Water Transfer Project is an important project to improve the freshwater supply environment in the Chinese interior and greatly alleviates the water shortage in the Chinese North China Plain; its sustainable, healthy, and safe operation guarantees ecological protection and economic development. However, due to the special expansive soil and deep excavation structure, the first section of the South–North Water Transfer Project canal faces serious disease risk directly manifested by cracks in the slope of the canal. Currently, relying on manual inspection not only consumes a lot of human resources but also unnecessarily repeats and misses many inspection areas. In this paper, a monitoring method combining depth learning and Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) high-definition remote sensing is proposed, which can detect the cracks of the channel slope in time and accurately and can be used for long-term health inspection of the South–North Water Transfer Project. The main contributions are as follows: (1) aiming at the need to identify small cracks in reinforced channels, a ground-imitating UAV that can obtain super-clear resolution remote-sensing images is introduced to identify small cracks on a complex slope background; (2) to identify fine cracks in massive images, a channel crack image dataset is constructed, and deep-learning methods are introduced for the intelligent batch identification of massive image data; (3) to provide the geolocation of crack-extraction results, a fast field positioning method for non-modeled data combined with navigation information is investigated. The experimental results show that the method can achieve a 92.68% recall rate and a 97.58% accuracy rate for detecting cracks in the Chinese South–North Water Transfer Project channel slopes. The maximum positioning accuracy of the method is 0.6 m, and the root mean square error is 0.21 m. It provides a new technical means for geological risk identification and health assessment of the South–North Water Transfer Central Project.

Inter-basin water transfer policies and water-use technical efficiency: China's South-North Water Transfer Project

Based on a quasi-natural experiment in China's South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP), this study adopts a difference-in-differences approach to scrutinise the effect of inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) policies on the water-use technical efficiency (WUTE). The findings show that IBWT can improve WUTE in water-receiving cities, but this is not related to the improvement in water endowment resulting from IBWT. Conversely, improvements in water endowment further decrease WUTE. Moreover, IBWT can improve the water-saving capacity and the intensity of environmental regulations in water-receiving cities, thus contributing to the sustainable improvement of WUTE from the input and the undesirable output. Finally, the effect of IBWT policies on WUTE is heterogeneous, depending on differences in economic and demographic elements. The WUTE estimation approach in this study contributes to an improved understanding of WUTE. This study also reveals a causal relationship between IBWT and WUTE, speaking to the ongoing debate on the relationship between IBWT, WUTE and water scarcity. Furthermore, this study adds to the understanding of the complex relationship between IBWT and WUTE, and provides insights into the internal mechanisms of IBWT affecting WUTE.

Water-use technical efficiency and income: Evidence from China's South-North Water Transfer Project

Improvements in water-use technical efficiency can alleviate water scarcity, which may help alleviate poverty caused by it. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the complex relationship between water-use technical efficiency, income, and even poverty. This article explores the spatial spillover effect of water-use technical efficiency on income through the case of China's South-North Water Transfer Project. It also critically examines the role of industrial development and employment in the impact of water-use technical efficiency on income. The findings demonstrate that increasing water-use technical efficiency can increase income, bringing “water blessings.” Moreover, increasing water-use technical efficiency also improves the income of adjacent regions through spatial spillovers. In addition, increasing water-use technical efficiency promotes industrial development, thereby increasing income through the positive moderation of government expenditure. Finally, increasing water-use technical efficiency also promotes employment and then increases income; however, increasing population size weakens WUTE's impact on employment. Beyond the current understanding of the relationship between water-use technical efficiency and income, this article provides another empirical study that contributes to profoundly understanding the spatial effect and internal mechanism of this relationship.

Slope Deformation Prediction Based on MT-InSAR and Fbprophet for Deep Excavation Section of South–North Water Transfer Project

In the operation and maintenance of the South–North Water Transfer Project, monitoring and predicting the canal slope deformation quickly and efficiently is one of the urgent problems to be solved. To predict the slope deformation of the deep excavated canal section at the head of the canal. We propose a new idea of adopting the joint prediction of MT-InSAR and Fbprophet. Firstly, MT-InSAR monitoring technology was used to invert channel deformation using 88 Sentinel-1A orbit-raising image data with a time baseline from 2017 to 2019. The time-series deformation of nine monitoring points was also extracted, and it was found that the time-series curves of the cumulative deformation of the channel slope showed fluctuations. The Fbprophet algorithm was then used to train the prediction model in Python to predict the channel slope deformation over the next 365 days. Finally, the prediction results were compared with the MT-InSAR monitoring values to analyze the prediction accuracy and applicability of the Fbprophet algorithm for the slope deformation monitoring of the South–North Water Transfer Project. The results show that: the deformation rate of the slope of the deep excavation section is in the range of 10 mm/a to 25 mm/a, the maximum accumulated deformation is about 60 mm, and the slope of the excavation canal shows a lifting phenomenon; among the nine monitoring points, the minimum and maximum predicted values of deformation using the machine learning prediction model trained in this paper were 56 mm and 73 mm, respectively; comparing the predicted and monitored values, their correlation coefficients were 0.998 at the highest and 0.988 at the lowest, and the minimum and maximum values of RMSE (RootMean Square Error) were 0.72 mm and 2.87 mm, respectively. It shows that the prediction model trained by the Fbprophet algorithm in this paper applies to the prediction of slope deformation in the deep excavation section, and our prediction results can provide a data reference for disaster prevention and the sustainable development of the South–North Water Transfer Project.

Metacoupling of Water Transfer: The Interaction of Ecological Environment in the Middle Route of China's South-North Project.

At present, nearly half of the population of China live in water-deficient areas where water needs to be transferred from surrounding or remote water sources to meet local water demands. Although the water transfer project has alleviated the demands for water in the water-deficient areas, and brought water-supply income to water source regions, it has also posed some cross-regional negative impacts, including the changes in the original ecology within the water source, the impacts on the downstream water demands, and the risk of biological invasion in the distant water receiving areas. Therefore, it can be seen that the impact of water transfer is complicated and will be manifested in various aspects. The Middle Route of China’s South–North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP-MR), as the world’s largest cross-watershed water transfer project, exerts particularly important effects on regional sustainable development; however, it also produces complex interactions within the ecological environment itself, downstream and in the distant water receiving cities. Thus, this work attempts to apply a metacoupling analysis framework of water transfer to explore the ecological interaction of water transfer in SNWTP-MR on each system. The metacoupling framework can be divided into intracoupling, pericoupling and telecoupling. This study focuses on the analysis of the causes and effects of the intracoupling, pericoupling and telecoupling of SNWTP-MR from the perspective of ecological values and ecological risks. We found that the coupling of water transfer brings about 23 billion yuan of ecological service value to the water source annually, but also increases the internal ecological risk index by 9.31%, through the calculation of changes in land use; secondly, the power generation benefit significantly increases, and the flood control standards have shifted from once-in-20 years to once-in-a-century. However, the ecological risks are also significant, such as poor water quality, eutrophication of water resources, competition for water between industry and agriculture, deterioration of waterway shipping, and threats to biodiversity, etc. Considering only water supply, the population carrying capacity of the water resource in distant water receiving cities is increased by 16.42 million people, which enhances the value of water resources and creates a cross-regional green ecological landscape belt. Nevertheless, the biological invasion and water pollution have greatly affected the safety of water supply. It can be seen that the cross-regional water transfer does not always damage the interests of the sending system and the spillover system while benefiting the receiving system; its impacts are complex and variable. Through this paper, it is hoped to provide a reference for the analysis of the ecological compensation, resource development and allocation in SNWTP-MR by revealing the metacoupling relationship of SNWTP-MR. This paper will provide new ideas for researching the metacoupling relationship, thereby offering valuable reference for the study of the interaction generated by large-scale water transfer.

The unintended effects of inter-basin water transfer policies on corporate research and development activities

Abstract Inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) policies alter the spatial distribution of water endowments and trigger changes in environmental regulation policies, which may unintentionally impact the research and development (R&D) activities in IBWT water-receiving areas. However, the existing studies failed to examine the relationship between IBWT policies and corporate R&D activities, and lacked the exploration of the micro-mechanism of IBWT's unintended impact on corporate R&D activities. Through the water delivery of China's South-North Water Transfer Project as a quasi-natural experiment, this study adopts a difference-in-differences approach to scrutinise the unintended impact of IBWT policies on corporate R&D activities. The findings show that IBWT policies can make the water a ‘resource blessing’ by directly improving the water endowment in water-receiving areas, thereby promoting corporate R&D activities. In addition, IBWT policies can also indirectly encourage local governments in water-receiving areas to strengthen the intensity of environmental regulations, ultimately promoting companies to improve R&D activities. Finally, the impacts of IBWT policies on corporate R&D activities in water-receiving areas are heterogeneous. Overall, this study contributes to understanding the complicated relationship between IBWT policies and corporate R&D activities, and provides insights into how IBWT policies affect corporate R&D activities.

Practice and research on water-saving water management model in Gaoyou irrigation district under South–North Water Transfer project situation

In order to meet the needs of the development of limited water supply in South–North Water Transfer Project, Gaoyou irrigation district, with the goal of realizing the modernization of irrigation district, keeps pace with the times, actively explores a new water-saving management model, reforms the water management system, and optimizes the dispatching of water sources, establishing scientific management system and good operation mechanism of irrigation district, realizing optimal allocation and efficient utilization of irrigation water resources in Irrigation district, and making irrigation district on the road of sustainable development of benign operation, significant water-saving benefits, irrigation benefits and social benefits have been achieved.