Indicators, Goals, and Assessment of the Water Sustainability in China: A Provincial and City—Level Study

Peipei Zhang, Yuanyuan Qu, Ye Qiang, Yang Xiao (), Chengjun Chu () and Changbo Qin
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Peipei Zhang: Institute of Strategic Planning, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100043, China
Yuanyuan Qu: Yantai Consulting & Designing Institute of Environmental Engineering, Yantai 264000, China
Ye Qiang: Institute of Strategic Planning, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100043, China
Yang Xiao: Institute of Strategic Planning, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100043, China
Chengjun Chu: Center of Environmental Status and Plan Assessment, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100043, China
Changbo Qin: Institute of Strategic Planning, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100043, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: The United Nations and scholars called for more attention and efforts for cleaner water and water sustainability. This study established a water sustainability evaluating method framework, including indicators, goals, and methods and performs provincial and city−level assessments as case studies. The framework involves six fields, surface water quality, marine environmental quality, water−soil−agriculture, water infrastructure, water conservation, aquatic ecology, water−efficient use, and pollutant emission reduction. The methods innovatively integrate multi fields and concerns of water sustainability while providing a goal−oriented evaluation and implementing the United Nations’ call for the refinement and clarification of SDGs. China’s overall water sustainability was evaluated as 0.821 in 2021, and have performed well in surface water quality, sea quality, water conservation, and aquatic ecology fields while performing poorly in the water−soil−agriculture field. The overall strategy, policy, and action for water sustainability could be developed based on the evaluation. The water sustainability evaluation presented the regional and field/indicator differentiations. It is necessary to implement regionally classified policies and differentiated management for sustainable water development. The correlation analysis with socioeconomic factors implies the complicated and intimate interaction between socioeconomic development and water sustainability while revealing that development stages and the inherent conditions of natural ecology and water sources bring about the differentiations. A comprehensive evaluation of water sustainability may be three−dimensional, involving water quality and ecology, development related to water, and water resources and utilization.

Keywords: water sustainability; indicators; 2035 goals; provincial evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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