Analysis of the Decoupling State and Driving Effects of Economic Development and Production Water Use in Jiangsu Province, China

Tianzi Zhang, Xiaojun Wang (), Guangping Qi, Shamsuddin Shahid, Yanxia Kang, Hao Wu and Xiangning Zhang
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Tianzi Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China
Xiaojun Wang: State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China
Guangping Qi: College of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Shamsuddin Shahid: School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
Yanxia Kang: College of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Hao Wu: School of Economics, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing 210023, China
Xiangning Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-16

Abstract: Identifying the evolutionary patterns and drivers of regional water use is a prerequisite for achieving the strictest water resource management system. This study used the Tapio-LMDI model to analyze the decoupling state and driving factors between economic development and production water use in Jiangsu Province from 2004 to 2020. The results show that: (1) From the evolution of the water use structure, the total water use in Jiangsu Province shows a decreasing trend from 2004 to 2020. Among them, the production water use decreased by 9.59%. From the characteristics of economic development (constant prices), the growth of Jiangsu’s gross regional product (GDP) from 2004 to 2020 reached 363%. (2) In terms of the decoupling status, economic development and production water use in Jiangsu Province underwent a “weak decoupling—strongly decoupling” transition and achieved “strongly decoupling” in 2020, with a decoupling elasticity coefficient of −2.30. (3) From the perspective of the decoupling drivers, the reduction in production effects has contributed to the decoupling between economic growth and water use in Jiangsu Province. By sector, the decline in the water use intensity effect and the industrial structure effect in the primary and secondary sectors were the main reason for the decline in its water use, while the increase in the industrial structure effect and economic scale effect of the tertiary sector has effectively contributed to the increase in water use in the tertiary sector. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the water use efficiency of the primary and secondary sectors, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the tertiary sector, and realize a “strongly decoupling” pattern between economic development and production water use in Jiangsu Province.

Keywords: production water; LMDI model; Tapio decoupling state; driving factors; Jiangsu Province (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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