Analysis of Water Resources and Water Environmental Carrying Capacity of Animal Husbandry in China—Based on Water Footprint Theory

Water shortage and water pollution have become the key factors restricting the sustainable development of animal husbandry in China. In this study, the water footprint model was used to analyze the water resource carrying capacity and water environment bearing pressure of animal husbandry in 31 provinces of China from 2001 to 2019. The findings indicate that: (1) The development of animal husbandry has exacerbated the regional water deficiency problem. Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Liaoning have become the most serious water deficit areas of animal husbandry in China. The decreasing water resource carrying capacity indicates that water resources are difficult in supporting the growth of animal husbandry; (2) the change of animal feeding structures has led to the decrease of gray water footprint and the alleviation of the water environment bearing pressure; however, the water environment of animal husbandry in northern China and the northwest is still overburdened, which poses a major challenge to the control of agricultural non-point source pollution; (3) furthermore, according to the spatial and temporal characteristics of the water resource carrying capacity and water environment bearing pressure, the main livestock-producing areas in the north are facing a profound “water-livestock” contradiction and showing an increasing trend. The research results will help decision-makers to adjust the development mode of animal husbandry, optimize resource allocation, and promote the sustainable development of resource-saving and environment-friendly animal husbandry.

Comprehensive assessment of urban water resources carrying capacity based on basin unit: a case study of Qingdao, China

With the quick development of social economy, the sharp contradiction between supply and demand of urban water resources is becoming much more obvious. Comprehensive assessment of urban water resources carrying capacity is of great significance to urban sustainable development planning. In this study, the urban water resources carrying capacity of Qingdao based on basin unit over 2010–2030 is predicted using analytic hierarchy process and system dynamics method. The results showed that the total water demand of all the 9 basins have an upward annual trend from 2017 to 2030, among which the domestic water consumption increase obviously. The urban water resource carrying capacity indexes in all basin over 2017–2030 show a downward annual trend under the current social development model. So it is urgent to improve the water resource carrying capacity of each river basin by means of industrial structure optimization and upgrading and active development of new water sources.

Evaluation of water resource carrying capacity of two typical cities in northern China

Global climate change and human activities are increasingly affecting the regional water resource carrying capacity (WRCC). For sustainable development, an important social challenge is understanding the carrying level of regional water resources. In this study, to assess the WRCC status, we used a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model and combined the natural and social attributes of WRCC. Moreover, from the three dimensions of support force subsystem, pressure force subsystem (PFS), and regulation force subsystem (RFS), 12 evaluation indicators were selected. Furthermore, using the fuzzy comprehensive theory and natural and social comprehensive indicators, we constructed a WRCC-level evaluation model and used it to evaluate the carrying level of two typical cities in China, Shijiazhuang and Langfang, for the 2006–2015 period. The results demonstrate that the regional water-carrying status of each of these cities is slightly above that of WRCC and that carrying levels show an interannual increasing trend. Note that, in both cities, the primary reason for the low regional WRCC is water shortage, while PFS improvement, supported by an interannual PFS increasing trend during the same time period, is the primary reason for carrying-level improvement for both cities in the past 10 years. For the RFS dimension, evaluation scores were in the range of 2.14–2.98 for Shijiazhuang and 2.12–2.79 for Langfang. Furthermore, the evaluation model and the indicator system demonstrated complementary functionality; thus, our results have an important academic value, particularly with reference to evaluating the WRCC.

A Comprehensive Evaluation Model of Regional Water Resource Carrying Capacity: Model Development and a Case Study in Baoding, China

Scientific water resource carrying capacity (WRCC) evaluations are necessary for providing guidance for the sustainable utilization of water resources. Based on the driving-pressure-state-impact-response feedback loop, this paper selects 21 indicators under five dimensions to construct a regional WRCC comprehensive evaluation framework. The projection pursuit clustering (PPC) method is implemented with the matter-element extension (MEE) model to overcome the limitations of subjective deviation and indicator attribute incompatibility in traditional comprehensive assessment methods affecting the accuracy of evaluations. The application of the integrated evaluation model is demonstrated in Baoding city in the Jing-Jin-Ji area from 2010 to 2017. The results indicate that the economic water consumption intensity is the most influential factor that impacts the WRCC change in Baoding, and the pressure subsystem and response subsystem are dominant in the entire system. The WRCC in Baoding significantly improved between 2010 and 2017 from a grade V extremely unsafe state to a grade III critical state. Natural water shortages and large population scales are the main negative factors during this period; however, the existing measures are still insufficient to achieve an optimal WRCC status. Considering the future population and industry inflow, additional actions must be proposed to maintain and promote harmonious conditions.