Assessing Water Sustainability in Northwest China: Analysis of Water Quantity, Water Quality, Socio-Economic Development and Policy Impacts

Abstract

Northwest China (NWC) is one of the driest areas of the world. Over the past decades, NWC has experienced rapid socio-economic development, further stressing its freshwater quantity and quality. However, there is little knowledge on the long-term status of NWC’s water resources and the anthropogenic impacts—positive (environmental policies) or negative (uncontrolled development). We present a holistic spatiotemporal assessment of NWC’s water quantity, water scarcity, and water quality based on water use intensity (WUI), water scarcity index (WSI), and statistical analyses and tests, combining multiple datasets spanning the past two decades. Moreover, we analyze the impacts of socio-economic development on water resources and mention the relevant governmental efforts and policies to preserve NWC’s water resources. NWC’s water use was found to be unsustainable, having significantly increased by 10% over the past two decades, but without being able to adequately cover the needs of most sectors. Our results also reveal water scarcity inequalities among NWC’s provinces; perennial water scarcity exists in Xinjiang and Ningxia Provinces, and there is no water stress in Qinghai. A remarkable wastewater treatment rate (from 27.3% in 2003 to 97.1% in 2020) and river water quality improvement have been achieved under continuous efforts, huge restoration and water pollution control investments. However, water shortages are a persistent issue. Balancing the water availability and demand will be crucial to achieve a truly sustainable development.

Optimization Examples for Water Allocation, Energy, Carbon Emissions, and Costs

“…This logic has been a useful approach for several aspects of WRM research and practice, with various applications [8,9], including water resources allocation [10][11][12], water infrastructure, irrigation networks, dams and reservoirs, hydropower works, etc. [13][14][15], hydrology and hydraulics [16][17][18], disaster analysis and management [19][20][21], water quality management [22][23][24][25], transboundary water management [26][27][28][29], policy/governance/development [30][31][32][33][34][35], Water-Energy-Food Nexus [36][37][38], and other cross-disciplinary fields such as hydro-economics, socio-hydrology, ecohydrology, etc. [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46].…”

Navigating the demographic shift: an examination of China's new fertility policy and its implications

“…Broader socio-economic implications are also at the forefront of discussions surrounding this policy. A study on water sustainability in Northwest China emphasized the importance of balancing socio-economic development with environmental sustainability, indicating that rapid socio-economic development in the region could lead to increased water usage, which poses challenges for sustainable development (Dai et al, 2023).…”