Benefit Analysis of Economic and Social Water Supply in Xi’an Based on the Emergy Method

Zihan Guo, Ni Wang, Xiaolian Mao, Xinyue Ke, Shaojiang Luo and Long Yu
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Zihan Guo: State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China
Ni Wang: State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China
Xiaolian Mao: Hanjiang-to-Weihe River Valley Water Diversion Project Construction Co., Ltd., Xi’an 710048, China
Xinyue Ke: State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China
Shaojiang Luo: Hanjiang-to-Weihe River Valley Water Diversion Project Construction Co., Ltd., Xi’an 710048, China
Long Yu: Hanjiang-to-Weihe River Valley Water Diversion Project Construction Co., Ltd., Xi’an 710048, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: In order to manage regional water resources efficiently and sustainably and promote the rational utilization of water resources, it is necessary to evaluate the water-supply benefit reasonably. On the basis of emergy theory, this paper constructs the water-supply-benefit model of economic (industry, agriculture, and the tertiary industry) and social (domestic, employment security, entertainment, scientific research) systems. Taking Xi’an from 2014 to 2020 as an example, by analyzing the energy flow of each system and the multisource water transformities, the water contribution rate, the water-supply benefit, and the unit-water-resource value in each system are calculated. For the water-supply benefits: Industry > Agriculture > Domestic > Tertiary industry > Employment Security > Entertainment > Scientific research. For the unit-water-resource values: Industry > Tertiary industry > Agriculture > Domestic > Entertainment > Employment security > Scientific research. In the economic system, the water-supply benefit and the unit-water value of industry were always the largest, followed by agriculture and the tertiary industry. However, the Pearson correlation coefficient between the water contribution rate and the output of the industrial system was only 0.52, which was less than that of other production industries, which indicates that there might be a waste of water and that industrial water conservation needs to be further strengthened. In the social system, the domestic-water-supply benefits and the water-resource value were the largest. This is because water resources, as a basic resource, always affect people’s health and quality of life.

Keywords: water-supply benefit; emergy theory; economic system; social system; transformity; water contribution rate; unit-water-resource value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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