Water-saving strategies across prefectures should target the manufacturing and agriculture sectors in China
Abstract Water scarcity is a global challenge in many emerging economies, including China. China is one of the most extensive freshwater users and has set water efficiency improvement goals for 2030 at the prefecture level. However, no systematic water use and savings comparison exists across prefectures and sectors. Here, we used datasets of water withdrawal for 10,608 industrial and 1715 agricultural sub-sectors for 343 prefectures, and explored the opportunities to reduce water use. Results show that 10% of the least water-efficient industrial sub-sectors represent a disproportionate 46% water use. 18.9 km 3 (±3.2%) water saving in industry and 50.3 km 3 (±2.3%) in agriculture could be achieved, equivalent to Russia’s annual demand. A minority of sectors, including cloth(ing)- and chemical-manufacturing, rice-, vegetable- and fruit-cultivation, could contribute the most to water savings. Our study is essential for identifying water use and efficiency information for individual prefectures and sectors.
Authors
- Junguo Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5745-6311)
- Martin R. Tillotson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3362-021X)
- Xu Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7461-852X)
- Dandan Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9797-2046)
- Jingwen Huo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3082-8370)
- Yuli Shan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5215-8657)
- Philippe Ciais (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8560-4943)
- Heran Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0818-7933)
- Dabo Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3773-3403)
- Hong Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7810-1624)
- Zeng Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7292-876X)
- Guanlin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5424-1534)
- Xian Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5445-4022)
- Bofeng Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7981-9577)
- Wanqing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0608-8731)
- Kai Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6636-0306)
- Geng Niu
- Zongyong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6584-3397)
- Yu Hao
Institutions
- University of East Anglia (GB)
- Beijing Institute of Technology (CN)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- North University of China (CN)
- Shandong University (CN)
- Tianjin University (CN)
- Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR)
- North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power (CN)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Tarim University (CN)
- China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (CN)
- Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CN)
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR)
- Mettler-Toledo (Switzerland) (CH)
- University College London (GB)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
- Aalto University (FI)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Published
- 2025-05-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02292-3
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Water resources management and optimization
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.16
Funders
- Shandong University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Guangdong University of Technology
- Beijing Foreign Studies University
- Southern University of Science and Technology