Mapping the virtual water trade in water-scarce basin: an environmentally extended input-output analysis in the Yellow River Basin of China

Abstract

The mismatch between the distribution of water resources and the industrial structure has led to an increasingly prosperous regional trade, with many water resources flowing from the production to the consumption regions. This paper maps the inside and outside virtual water trade of the Yellow River Basin, applying the environmentally extended input-output model to evaluate the external dependence of water in the Yellow River Basin. The results show that the Yellow River Basin mobilizes 27.2 billion of virtual water flowing into other regions despite water scarcity, equivalent to half the runoff of the Yellow River. The leading destination for outflow is the Eastern coast, and the largest virtual water outflow sector is Agriculture and Manufacturing. The inequity of the inside virtual water trade of the Yellow River Basin is severe, with large amounts of virtual water flowing from poor to rich regions. It exacerbates water scarcity in poor regions.