Unraveling the effect of inter-basin water transfer on reducing water scarcity and its inequality in China
Sun, S; Zhou, X; Liu, X; et al.Jiang, Y; Zhou, H; Zhang, C; Fu, G
Date: 15 February 2021
Journal
Water Research
Publisher
Elsevier / IWA Publishing
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Securing water supply in the face of increasing water scarcity is one important
challenge faced by humanity in sustainable development. Inter-basin water transfer is
widely applied to provide water supply security in regions where water demand exceeds
water availability. However, the effect of inter-basin water transfer on ...
Securing water supply in the face of increasing water scarcity is one important
challenge faced by humanity in sustainable development. Inter-basin water transfer is
widely applied to provide water supply security in regions where water demand exceeds
water availability. However, the effect of inter-basin water transfer on alleviating water
scarcity and its inequality is poorly understood especially at the national scale. Based
on a newly compiled database of inter-basin water transfer projects in China, here we
report a first national assessment of their effect on securing water supply in different
basins. We developed a number of indices to facilitate quantifying the effect of water
transfer on water scarcity and its inequality. The capacity of inter-basin transfer projects
has been steadily increased, which achieved ~48.5 billion m3
yr-1
by 2016 (equivalent
to ~8% of the national water use). The results indicate that water transfer has impacted
water supply of 43 sub-basins out of a total of 76 sub-basins, but it hardly changes a
basin’s water scarcity level (e.g., from water scarcity to low water scarcity).
Approximately three quarters of people in China are affected by water transfer. More
than a half of the national population (705 million) benefit from alleviated water
scarcity, leading to the inequality coefficient reduced from 0.64 under natural water
availability condition to 0.59 considering water transfer in 2016. However, 357 million
people in water transfer source basins are subject to increased water scarcity, in which
~21% are from water stressed sub-basins. This study reveals for the first time water
transfer induced water scarcity and inequality change across sub-basins in China, and
highlights the challenges to secure water supply across basins.
Engineering
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's licence is described as © 2021. This version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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