How can technological progress save water resources: by pioneering innovations or efficient management?

Mingdong Jiang (), Mengyuan Dai, Xiaohui Yang, Xinxin Yu (), Xiaomei Shen () and Guanyu Zhong
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Mingdong Jiang: Southeast University
Mengyuan Dai: Yancheng Institute of Technology
Xiaohui Yang: Fudan University
Xinxin Yu: Renmin University of China
Xiaomei Shen: Yancheng Institute of Technology
Guanyu Zhong: UNSW Sydney

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Water scarcity has long plagued the world and restricted human sustainable development. Though technological progress has been proven to influence water efficiency under resource limitation, existing research ignores how it functions. To fill this research gap, mechanisms for technological progress to affect water consumption are decomposed into innovation exploration and efficiency improvement. The former includes the potential water resources intensity effect and technological change effect, while the technological management efficiency effect represents the latter. By nesting Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index and Production-theoretical Decomposition Analysis (LMDI-PDA), we can easily find to what extent the above factors contribute to water conservation. Results show that innovation exploration can save water, while the management efficiency effect increases water consumption. Specifically, the potential water resources intensity effect made the most significant contribution to water conservation in China from 2000 to 2019, which reached 8078.41 billion m3, followed by the technological change effect. In contrast, improving the factor allocation efficiency increases water consumption by 65.82 billion m3. Technological management in water-intensive provinces requires special attention. From a regional perspective, significant regional heterogeneity exists in the water-saving effects of these three major technology paths. Compared with the middle and western regions, the eastern regions make the smallest contributions to water conservation by the potential water resources intensity effect. However, only in the eastern areas are the technological change effect and the technological management efficiency effect conducive to saving water. Based on this, tailored technological progress strategies to achieve water savings are proposed.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-06074-2

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