Study On Regional Water Footprint Accounting And Optimal Allocation Of Water Resources Based On Input-output Analysis

Water crisis is one of the primary risks that cannot be avoided in today's global economic development,and it is also a bottleneck restricting the sustainable development of most cities in China.Accurately identifying the consumption of water resources by economic activities and then scientifically distributing limited water resources is the only way to achieve coordinated and sustainable regional development.In view of the limitations of current water consumption research such as insufficient attention to water quality,insufficient research accuracy of industrial sectors,neglect of inter-industry linkages and trade influences,as well as the problems of replacing “water consumption” with“water withdrawal” and neglect of water quality allocation in water resources allocation research,this paper establishes an improved industrial water footprint accounting system,which is incorporated into the water resources allocation model to explore the optimal allocation schemes of regional water resources.The empirical analysis of Baoding City,which has an important strategic status but increasingly prominent water shortage problem,is taken as an example to verify its applicability and feasibility.The main research results are as follows:Firstly,this study establishes a regional water footprint accounting system combined water quantity and quality from the perspective of industrial correlation.In terms of accounting content,the blue water footprint and gray water footprint are unified into the water footprint accounting objects to achieve a comprehensive assessment of combined water quantity and quality;in terms of accounting method,the footprint of the planting industry calculated by the “bottom-up” method is incorporated into the industry water footprint calculation process using the “top-down” approach.Additionally,the impact of imported products is fully taken into consideration.The improved water footprint accounting system not only attaches great importance to the accounting accuracy,but also pays attention to the correlation among industries,which helps to reveal the real and detailed water resources consumption and flow pattern,and then provides data support for regional water resources management decision-making and water resources allocation based on macroeconomic adjustments.Secondly,a regional water resources allocation model with water footprint as the core element is constructed.In the setting of the objective function and constraint conditions,the introduction of the concept of water footprint directly serves the allocation of water resources to solve the research difficulties caused by equating “water consumption” with “water withdrawal”in previous studies,and truly realizes that water quality and water quantity participate in the quantitative allocation together.In addition,incorporating the adjustment of industrial structure and trade structure into a macro-economy-based allocation strategy make model settings more in line with reality,and thus improve the availability of model allocation results.The above model provides an effective assistant decision-making tool for water resource managers to determine the allocation scheme.Finally,the improved regional industrial water footprint accounting system and the water resources allocation model are applied to Baoding City for empirical research.The results show that the allocation result of the water resources allocation model based on water footprint depends on the preference of regional decision-makers for economic goals and water footprint goals.Under balanced goal weights,through the adjustment of industrial structure and trade structure during the simulation period,Baoding's economic development is gradually shifting to a high-level intensive,and the industrial development gradually changing to resource-saving and environment-friendly pattern.The virtual water achieves a net inflow under the premise of ensuring reasonable growth in trade scale,and the level of water resources sustainability is substantially improved.The results verify the feasibility and applicability of the accounting system and configuration model constructed in this paper,and provide technical support for the sustainable use of water resources in Baoding City.This research is a further supplement and improvement to the research on regional industrial water footprint and water resources allocation.It also provides an auxiliary decision-making tool for the implementation of China's most stringent water resources management system in regions,especially water-lacking areas,with strong practical applicability.