The Evaluation of Water Footprints and Sustainable Water Utilization in Beijing

Dongchun Ma, Chaofan Xian, Jing Zhang, Ruochen Zhang and Zhiyun Ouyang
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Dongchun Ma: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Chaofan Xian: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Jing Zhang: Department of Quantitative & Technical Economics, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 102488, China
Ruochen Zhang: Department of Quantitative & Technical Economics, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 102488, China
Zhiyun Ouyang: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: The water footprint approach is superior to the traditional approaches applied in water management. The water footprint can be regarded as a comprehensive indicator of freshwater resources appropriation, next to the traditional and restricted measure of water withdrawal. This study took the megacity of Beijing in North China as a case study to evaluate the sustainability of water utilization by calculating the water footprint in 2007 and 2010, based on real and virtual water consumption. The results show that the water footprint of the inhabitants of Beijing is decreasing, while the degree of water import dependency is increasing. Although the pressure of water scarcity in Beijing was slightly alleviated, the current situation of water shortage remains an enormous challenge, as the water footprint per capita is nearly 10 times higher than the water resources available. Therefore, water utilization in Beijing remains unsustainable. The improvement of water resources utilization efficiency, that encompasses water saving, is proposed as a key measure in the mitigation of water shortage.

Keywords: water footprint; water resource; sustainable utilization; evaluation; Beijing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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