City‐Level Virtual Groundwater Flows in Northern China and the Effect of Agricultural Relocation on Alleviating Groundwater Scarcity
Abstract North China faces severe groundwater overdraft because of unsustainable groundwater use. However, consumers of local groundwater have rarely been precisely delineated. As such, identifying external consumers of groundwater‐intensive products may promote targeted policies from the consumptio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Earth's Future |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003561 |
| _version_ | 1797733420310200320 |
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| author | Beiming Cai Ling Jiang Yu Liu Zhuoying Zhang Xi Hu Wei Zhang |
| author_facet | Beiming Cai Ling Jiang Yu Liu Zhuoying Zhang Xi Hu Wei Zhang |
| author_sort | Beiming Cai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract North China faces severe groundwater overdraft because of unsustainable groundwater use. However, consumers of local groundwater have rarely been precisely delineated. As such, identifying external consumers of groundwater‐intensive products may promote targeted policies from the consumption side, especially for the most water‐scarce Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei (BTH) metropolitan area, which has important links to food security and groundwater overdraft across North China. In this study, we revealed the prefecture city‐level virtual groundwater flows in the BTH region for, to our knowledge, the first time by compiling a nested multiregional input‐output table with 13 BTH cities and 28 Chinese provinces outside BTH in 2012. Our results showed that >50% of groundwater use in BTH cities was driven by agricultural supply for outside provinces, significantly exceeding the local demand of 38.8%. In addition, we simulated different scenarios that focused on redistributing the original agricultural production of the BTH region to other northern provinces. We found that these redistribution strategies would lead to 13%–67% groundwater savings relative to total groundwater use in the BTH region in 2012. Moreover, our results also indicated that BTH cities would save groundwater under higher stress in exchange for increased groundwater use in provinces under lower stress. These findings can be utilized to optimize the agricultural distribution and groundwater conservation policies in other regions or countries facing agriculture‐induced groundwater overdraft issues. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:28:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8d020dd9ff9d49e582109e25cbe0c730 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2328-4277 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:28:49Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Earth's Future |
| spelling | doaj.art-8d020dd9ff9d49e582109e25cbe0c7302023-08-29T18:52:31ZengWileyEarth's Future2328-42772023-08-01118n/an/a10.1029/2023EF003561City‐Level Virtual Groundwater Flows in Northern China and the Effect of Agricultural Relocation on Alleviating Groundwater ScarcityBeiming Cai0Ling Jiang1Yu Liu2Zhuoying Zhang3Xi Hu4Wei Zhang5Key Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions Ministry of Education College of Geography and Environmental Science Henan University Kaifeng ChinaSchool of Government Central University of Finance and Economics Beijing ChinaCollege of Urban and Environmental Sciences Peking University Beijing ChinaState Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER) Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing ChinaState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Planning and Policy Simulation Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning Beijing ChinaState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Planning and Policy Simulation Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning Beijing ChinaAbstract North China faces severe groundwater overdraft because of unsustainable groundwater use. However, consumers of local groundwater have rarely been precisely delineated. As such, identifying external consumers of groundwater‐intensive products may promote targeted policies from the consumption side, especially for the most water‐scarce Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei (BTH) metropolitan area, which has important links to food security and groundwater overdraft across North China. In this study, we revealed the prefecture city‐level virtual groundwater flows in the BTH region for, to our knowledge, the first time by compiling a nested multiregional input‐output table with 13 BTH cities and 28 Chinese provinces outside BTH in 2012. Our results showed that >50% of groundwater use in BTH cities was driven by agricultural supply for outside provinces, significantly exceeding the local demand of 38.8%. In addition, we simulated different scenarios that focused on redistributing the original agricultural production of the BTH region to other northern provinces. We found that these redistribution strategies would lead to 13%–67% groundwater savings relative to total groundwater use in the BTH region in 2012. Moreover, our results also indicated that BTH cities would save groundwater under higher stress in exchange for increased groundwater use in provinces under lower stress. These findings can be utilized to optimize the agricultural distribution and groundwater conservation policies in other regions or countries facing agriculture‐induced groundwater overdraft issues.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003561groundwater usegroundwater stressvirtual water strategyinterregional traderedistribution of agricultural production |
| spellingShingle | Beiming Cai Ling Jiang Yu Liu Zhuoying Zhang Xi Hu Wei Zhang City‐Level Virtual Groundwater Flows in Northern China and the Effect of Agricultural Relocation on Alleviating Groundwater Scarcity Earth's Future groundwater use groundwater stress virtual water strategy interregional trade redistribution of agricultural production |
| title | City‐Level Virtual Groundwater Flows in Northern China and the Effect of Agricultural Relocation on Alleviating Groundwater Scarcity |
| title_full | City‐Level Virtual Groundwater Flows in Northern China and the Effect of Agricultural Relocation on Alleviating Groundwater Scarcity |
| title_fullStr | City‐Level Virtual Groundwater Flows in Northern China and the Effect of Agricultural Relocation on Alleviating Groundwater Scarcity |
| title_full_unstemmed | City‐Level Virtual Groundwater Flows in Northern China and the Effect of Agricultural Relocation on Alleviating Groundwater Scarcity |
| title_short | City‐Level Virtual Groundwater Flows in Northern China and the Effect of Agricultural Relocation on Alleviating Groundwater Scarcity |
| title_sort | city level virtual groundwater flows in northern china and the effect of agricultural relocation on alleviating groundwater scarcity |
| topic | groundwater use groundwater stress virtual water strategy interregional trade redistribution of agricultural production |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003561 |
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