Understanding Beijing’s Water Challenge: A Decomposition Analysis of Changes in Beijing’s Water Footprint between 1997 and 2007

Abstract

Beijing has been experiencing increasing water shortage alongside its astonishing economic growth over the past decades. This study conducts a quasi-dynamic input-output (IO) analysis to investigate changes in Beijing's water footprint (WF) and decompose the effects of contributing factors to the changes during 1997-2007. The analysis distinguishes "internal" and "external" WF to depict connections of Beijing's water use with outside. The results show an increase in Beijing's WF from 4342 million m(3) in 1997 to 5748 million m(3) in 2007. Almost all the increase was attributable to the expansion of the external WF, while the internal WF only changed slightly, indicating a growing dependence of Beijing on external water resources. The decomposition analysis reveals that the technological effect was the principal contributor to offset the WF increase and the structural effect stemmed from the shift of demand toward products of the tertiary industries also contributed to reducing the WF. However, these effects were not sufficient to reverse the expansion of Beijing's WF resulted from the scale effect induced by expansion of final demand and the economic system efficiency effect associated with the growth of trade between Beijing and outside. The study provides insights into Beijing's water challenge and sheds lights on the combating strategies for the future. It is also an endeavor to enhance the policy relevance of the WF studies.

Structural Decomposition Analysis of Carbon Emissions and Policy Recommendations for Energy Sustainability in Xinjiang

“…and environmental issues (e.g., carbon emissions [15,21,39,40], water resources [35,41,42], mercury emissions [43], PM2.5 emissions [44], environmental pressure [45], etc.). The SDA model has been widely used already, thanks to its important feature and ability, namely, to distinguish the direct and indirect socio-economic effects from both intermediate production and final consumption perspectives [35,46].…”

Quantifying the human impact on water resources: a critical review of the water footprint concept

“…From a production perspective, the water footprint is numerically equal to the virtual water content of a given product or service (Zhang et al, 2012); what distinguishes the water footprint from virtual water is that it is also applied at a consumer level, thus creating a consumption-based indicator of water use (Velázquez et al, 2011) 2 . A water footprint refers to the total volume of freshwater consumed directly and indirectly by a nation or a company, or in the provision of a product or service Hoekstra et al, 2009b).…”

Virtual Water Flows at the County Level in the Heihe River Basin, China

“…This indicates that the large difference in water stress is driven by renewable freshwater availability (Table 4). National-level studies on virtual water have revealed that several economically advanced provinces, such as the cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong, have imported huge amounts of virtual water from outside to alleviate their water stresses [15,28,29]. This is especially applicable to the city of Beijing.…”