Evaluation of natural support capacity of water resources using principal component analysis method: a case study of Fuyang district, China

Abstract

The natural support capacity (NSC) of water resources is a key aspect of the regional carrying capacity of water resources, and it can reflect the quality and quantity of water resources in a region. This paper aims to evaluate the NSC of water resources using a model based on the principal component analysis (PCA) to benefit the development and utilization of regional water resources. A case study in the Fuyang district, Zhejiang Province, China, was carried out. First, water resources, as dependent variables, were assumed to be linearly influenced by the indicators affecting the NSC of water resources. These indicators were regarded as independent variables for multivariate analysis in this study. Then, the available water resources data for the Fuyang district between 1995 and 2003 were inputted to the model to analyze NSC levels of water resources. The results indicated that the most important parameters influencing the NSC of water resources could be shortlisted to water resources availability, surface water resources, groundwater resources, allowable withdrawal of water resources, and emission intensity of chemical oxygen demanding. Our findings revealed that the NSC of water resources in the Fuyang district fluctuated between 1995 and 1999 and generally declined after 2000, indicating that the issue of water pollution has worsened since 2000. These results are consistent with the field observations and thus shall provide new potential applications of a PCA-based model in evaluating the NSC of water resources and the relevant water resource carrying capacity for similar areas.

Evaluation of Agricultural Water Resources Carrying Capacity and Its Influencing Factors: A Case Study of Townships in the Arid Region of Northwest China

“…For the study of WRCC, international scholars have mainly focused on water security [17][18][19], whereas Chinese scholars have focused on the concept and connotation of WRCC [20][21][22]. Scholars generally believe that WRCC covers the water resources system, the economic and social system, and the ecological system [18][19][20][21][22][23]. The WRCC is defined by four dimensions: water quantity, water quality, water area, and water flow [24][25][26].…”

Overview and evaluation of the Indonesia's water resources management policies for food security

“…This paper seeks to examine the condition of irrigations, water, food security and its problems based on literature studies from previous researchers, especially related to implementation of government policies. Many variables of government policies problems such as aspect of regulation, and technical implementation aspect can reflect water resources condition to support food security in Indonesia (Cao et al, 2020;Tripathy & Singal, 2019;Pambudi, 2019). Among these variables, there are several dominant ones.…”

Evaluation of Water Resources Carrying Capacity Using Principal Component Analysis: An Empirical Study in Huai’an, Jiangsu, China

“…Men et al proposed an index weight determination evaluation method based on the hierarchical analysis method [21] to calculate and evaluate the water environment carrying capacity. In order to avoid the subjective arbitrariness on the evaluation results of water resources carrying capacity, Cao et al used the principal component analysis to evaluate the water resources carrying capacity [22]. Sun et al used the system dynamics model to explore the source of the problem from the inside of the system, and analyzed the influencing factors of the water resources carrying capacity [23].…”