Trend Analysis of Water Poverty Index for Assessment of Water Stress and Water Management Polices: A Case Study in the Hexi Corridor, China

Abstract

Abstract:The Hexi Corridor, an important part of the Silk Road Economic Belt, is considered the poorest, most water scarce, and most ecologically fragile area in China. Establishing efficient strategies for water management in an integrated manner is utterly important. This paper evaluates the spatio-temporal trends of water stress (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015) in the Shule (SLRB), Heihe (HHRB), and Shiyang (SYRB) River Basins in the Hexi Corridor based on the Water Poverty Index (WPI). For SLRB, the WPI ranged from 55.3 to 66.4, followed by HHRB (40.1-58.2) and SYRB with WPI = 20.0-43.9. Both SYRB and HHRB showed an improvement in the water situation based on increasing trends, whereas SLRB demonstrated a small decrease. The effectiveness of water policy interventions was evident in SYRB and HHRB, standing at odds with SLRB where interventions required adjustment to ameliorate the water stress. For the start and end years, pentagrams for five components (Resource, Access, Capacity, Use, Environment) demonstrated the merits and weaknesses of WPI as a comparative framework for assessing the water situation. This study also reaffirms the importance of WPI, utilized for investigating the efficacy of implemented water policies and benchmarking the future priorities in basins not only in China but also in other locations where water resources management is a key issue.

Spatio-Temporal Variation of Land-Use Intensity from a Multi-Perspective—Taking the Middle and Lower Reaches of Shule River Basin in China as an Example

“…Over the 29 years, the LUD of Yaozhanzi Town increased the most, by 67.42, with an average annual increase of 2.32. Following Yaozhanzi Town, Liuhe Town, Sandaogou Town, Huangzhawan Town, and Huahai Town also experienced significant increases in LUD, which 40.82, accounting for 60.55% of the total increase (newly constructed towns were not included). In the same period, the increase in the LUD of Hedong Town accounted for 91.5% of its total increase.…”

“…However, human activities are mainly affected by the policies as the result of natural background superimposition and artificial influence [38]. From the investigation of three inland river basins in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province, development intensity of land resources is different from east to west (Shiyang River development and utilization up to 171%, Hei River development and utilization rate to 92%, Shule River development and utilization rate to 75%), the contradiction between "man and land" also gradually gets slow from the east to the west [39,40,60]. A comprehensive survey of human development process is made in three inland rivers in Gansu Province, we found a large-scale migration development in Shiyang River and Hei River except historical period (especially Han, Tang, Ming and Qing).…”

“…Additionally, the areas of infrastructure, public service facilities, and residential land for immigrant housing are also increasing, with expected increases of 5.62 hm 2 in ten years due to a large number of immigrants. Large-scale immigration and land development changed the ways of land use [37][38][39][40]. Artificial and semi-artificial lands gradually replaced some part of the natural and semi-natural lands.…”

“…They include land-cover change and land-use "Grain for Green Project", etc., which directly or indirectly influenced land use in Shule River Basin. Recently, a lot of research on Shule River Basin has been carried out from perspectives of land use/cover changes, quality of ecosystem, ecological and environmental effects and so on [37][38][39][40]. Nonetheless, these studies do not consider spatio-temporal variation of land-use intensity and variation caused by immigration, national policies, technologies, and other human activities.…”

An Assessment of Water Resources in the Taiwan Strait Island Using the Water Poverty Index

“…In 2002, the WPI team considered the commonality and accessibility of national data in the WPI architecture for the three aforementioned countries to develop a WPI suitable for the nation, based on the use in [21]. Water is a vital resource for natural ecosystems and for sustainable human life [22], especially in arid and semiarid regions [23]. Water bodies are the focus of the interactions among various components of the terrestrial system, and, in many areas, they are the most important freshwater resources [24].…”