What Drove Water Demands In Beijing?: Implications For Macroeconomic Structure And Policy Reform
September 1, 2022 - Qin, Huanhuan
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EmailJournal or Book Title: ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
Volume/Issue: 25
Year Published: 2023
The water system of Beijing is a coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) featured by the interactions of the two components. An integrated system dynamics (SD) model is adopted to analyze the systematic structure of CHANS for megacities. The feedback and interactive relationships for different components can be fully understood through this model. The novelty of this study is reflected in the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods adopted to simulate and analyze the structure of water demands in Beijing using the SD model. The driving forces of water demand and their effects on water demand variation are obtained based on both the modeling results and the literatures. The structural change in water use of Beijing showed the following trends: total water demand was stable; industrial and agricultural water demands decreased; domestic water demand rapidly increased. Implications, such as adjusting macroeconomic structure, keeping population growth stable, promoting new and advanced technologies' application, and encouraging the use of economic lever measures, are valuable lessons should be taken by other megacities with similar water shortages as Beijing. Only with the government, the public and the enterprises effectively working together will the water shortage problems be solved in such megacities like Beijing.
DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02635-6
Type of Publication: Article
