Study On Urban Water Footprint With Ecological Water Requirements

The development of cities inevitably increases the demand and utilization of water resources. However, the freshwater resources are not only limited, but are distributed unevenly. With the development of economic and social, water deficiency becomes more and more serious. Lots of problem such as drying river, land collapse, sea water encroachment and the fall of groundwater table etc. are caused by water deficiency, following with inestimable losses on the economy and society. Therefore, sustainable use of water resources is one of the key strategic issues to maintain sustainable development of our country.Dalian is a coastal city typically short of water resources. In order to satisfy the city development and people's standard of living improvement, water resources management exert all their effort to explore and utilize various forms of water. In recent years, "the concept of virtual water" and "water footprint model" has provided a new perspective to the water management. These theories broke through the limitations of real water and seek solutions to regional problems from a grand new viewpoint, which plays an important role in sustainable development of water resources.In this paper, the footprint computation method has been introduced and developed in the view of ecological water requirements. The conception of virtual water and the water footprint have been introduced at the beginning of the paper. Then the status on water resource exploration and the economy development have been summarized, and the water footprint of Dalian district in 2004 has been calculated. The results show that the footprint has exceeded the water resource in Dalian district, and the local citizens have consumed plentiful water resource in the form of virtual water. The ecological water only takes a small proportion of the total water consumed which go against the water resource sustainable development. Both of industry and agriculture productions import and export contain lots of virtual water, and the reality of exporting virtual water do not consistent with the water shortage of Dalian district. According to the water resource stratagem, the suggestion of properly carry on the virtual water stage and adjusting the industries according to the analysis have been put forward, and relative management advices have been given out, too. The water footprint which based on the virtual water thoroughly reveal a true socio-economic system on water consumption, and give light to the water management (increasing water use efficiency,...