| With the rapid development of social economy,water crisis caused by water shortage and water environment pollution has become the main bottleneck restricting the sustainable development of social economy.Since the beginning of the 21st century,all countries in the world have been facing severe water shortage.It is predicted that by 2025,there will be 3 billion people in the world facing water shortage and 40 countries and regions being seriously short of fresh water.Water utilization situation is very severe in China,especially in urban areas,having a large population and inadequate water resources distributed unevenly in space-time and used inefficiently.Improving the efficiency of water resources utilization,as a key means to solve the mismatch between water supply and demand,is an important part of implementing the strictest water resources management system and the construction of water ecological civilization,as well as a significant strategic issue of national economic and social development.It is of great practical significance to study the characteristics and influencing factors of urban water use efficiency,putting forward reasonable suggestions for improving the efficiency and realizing the sustainable utilization of urban water resources in eco-geographical regions of China.It were collected that data of input-output evaluation and influencing factor indexes related to water use efficiency of the research objects,including 284 prefecture-level cities and above from 2007 to 2016.Through the categorical data enveloping analysis model and the theil index,urban water use efficiency was analyzed in ecological geographic areas of China.Additionally,the influencing factors of water utilization efficiency were measured by Tobit model in order to put forward corresponding countermeasures for improving the efficiency of water use.The results revealed the followings.(1)The average level of urban water resource utilization efficiency was low and the spatial distribution was unbalanced,with most of cities being inefficient or even ineffective in the water input-output benefits in China from 2007 to 2016.For the ecological geographic regions,urban water use efficiency and its spatial distribution were significantly discrepant among different regions,decreasing successively from the temperate arid region,the temperate semi-arid region,the temperate sub-humid region,and the temperate humid region to the subtropical humid region.(2)There were obvious interdecadal differences in the spatial and temporal evolution of urban water resource efficiency in the whole country and eco-geographical regions during 2007-2016.From 2007 to 2012,the average water resource utilization efficiency of cities in whole China and all eco-geographic regions showed a fluctuating downward trend with 62.68%of cities declining in efficiency,and the number of cities in medium efficiency or higher significantly decreased.During 2012-2016,water use efficiency of the whole nation,the temperate sub-humid zone,the temperate humid zone and the subtropical humid zone was fluctuating increasing,while the temperate arid zone and the temperate semi-arid zone was in a more moderate downtrend than before.Efficiency was on the rise in more than half of cities,having a increasing in the number of more efficient cities in the temperate arid zone,the temperate humid zone and the subtropical humid zone,and a weak decreasing in the temperate semi-arid zone and the temperate sub-humid zone.It was found that the utilization efficiency of water resources had been improved in China.(3)The difference was shrinking gradually in water use efficiency of Chinese cities from 2007 to 2016,facilitating the improvement of the efficiency in overall country.According to the thiel index,the discrepancy of cities in all eco-geographic regions largely explained the difference of urban water use efficiency in overall China,while the difference between eco-geographic regions had a secondary effect.For the ecological geographic regions,the contribution of the subtropical humid area and the temperate semi-humid area dominated the difference in eco-geographic regions of China.(4)In terms of influencing factors,the conclusion showed that the economic development level,industrial structure,urban population,land urbanization and land use structure had positive effects,while urban water supply,water consumption structure and water management policy were negatively correlated with water resource use efficiency in China.It was worth noting that the water resources policy was negative,but played a positive role in promoting water utilization efficiency.However,it was distinctive that the significance and degree of influencing factors on the utilization efficiency of eco-geographic regions.In the temperate arid zone and the temperate semi-arid zone,factors with greater influence were favorable to the improvement of urban water resources efficiency but not in the temperate semi-humid zone,the temperate humid zone and the subtropical humid zone,and the effect degree of influencing factors was higher.Finally,it is instructive for understanding the utilization status,managing the allocation of urban water resources and coordinating urban development with resource environmental bearing by exploring Chinese urban water use efficiency characteristics and influencing factors in the perspective of ecological geographic areas. |
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