Spatial Analysis of Water Resources Carrying Capacity based on

Available Amount of Effective Water Resources: A Case Study of

Taizhou City, China

Fen Zhou, Mengxuan Jie, Jing Wei, Chuanchong Tian, Liting Wang and Yujie Li

Zhejiang Design Institute of Water Conservancy and Hydroelectric Power, Zhejiang Hangzhou 310002, China

Keywords: Water resources carrying capacity, Available amount of effective water resources, Taizhou City

Abstract:

In view of the uneven distribution of water resources in time and space and the prominent problems of water

environment, this paper puts forward a calculation method of Available Amount of Effective Water

Resources considering the guaranteed rate of incoming water and the rate of reaching the standard of water

quality. Taking Taizhou City of Zhejiang Province as an example, the Water Resources Carrying Capacity

was analyzed. The results show that the current water resources carrying capacity in Taizhou is generally in

a loose state, but there is a serious problem of uneven spatial distribution. On the Spatial Balance Principle,

strengthening water saving from the demand side and increasing the available water resources from the

supply side are important measures to improve the carrying capacity and promote spatial balance.

1 INTRODUCTION

Water resources are an indispensable precious

resource for human survival and development, but

the amount of water resources is limited. How much

economic and social scale can be supported by water

resources in a region has always been one of the

core contents of water resources research, and it is

also an important constraint factor for the

development of a region (Ren et al., 2016; Dou et

al., 2015; Xia & Zhu, 2002). Chinese researchers

first put forward the concept of Water Resources

Carrying Capacity (WRCC) since the late 1980s,

which is a threshold for measuring regional

economic and social development restricted by

water resources (Zhao et al., 2021; Yang et al.,

2019). However, there are many discussions about

the concept and calculation method of water

resources carrying capacity in academic circles, and

a complete theoretical and methodological system

has not yet been formed

(Peng et al., 2021).

The existing quantitative calculation methods of

WRCC include empirical formula method,

comprehensive evaluation method and system

analysis method

(Yang et al., 2015; Song et al.,

2011). The empirical formula method is relatively

simple and easy to operate, and its shortcoming is

that it pays less attention to the relationship among

resources, environment, and economy. The

mathematical theory of comprehensive evaluation

method is deeply applied, but the selection of

indicators and the determination of weights are both

important and difficult. The system analysis method

considers the mutual feedback relationship between

water resources and economy, society, and ecology,

but the deficiency is that the calculation method is

complicated (Cheng et al., 2018).

Based on relevant research, this paper puts

forward an analysis method of water resources

carrying capacity based on available water resources

for areas with uneven spatial and temporal

distribution of water resources and outstanding

water environment problems, and makes an example

calculation in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province.

2 MATERIALS AND

METHODOLOGY

Taizhou City is in the southeast coast of Zhejiang

Province, with an area of 9411 km

and an average

annual surface water resource of 8976 million m

Jiaojiang River is the main river in Taizhou, and

there are many small rivers flowing into the sea

alone. According to the third national water

Zhou, F., Jie, M., Wei, J., Tian, C., Wang, L. and Li, Y.

Spatial Analysis of Water Resources Carrying Capacity based on Available Amount of Effective Water Resources: A Case Study of Taizhou City, China.

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE 2021), pages 65-68

ISBN: 978-989-758-560-9; ISSN: 1755-1315

resources survey and evaluation, Taizhou is divided

into six water resources four-level subareas, namely

Yongan River (YR), Shifeng River (SR), Ling River

and Left bank of Jiao River (LRLJR), Wenhuang

Plain (WP), Yuhuan Island (YI), Xiangshan Port and

Sanmen Bay (XPSB).

The WRCC usually refers to the population scale

supported by the maximum load that water resources

can bear on the economy and society under the

premise of meeting the reasonable water

consumption of river ecological environment in the

foreseeable period, combining with other resources,

intelligence, and technology

[6-8]

. From the

definition, the core of WRCC is the number of

people supported by water resources in a region with

the cooperation of other resources. Therefore, the

calculation method of regional WRCC is as follows.

𝑊𝑅𝐶𝐶 





(1)

where 𝑞 is per capita water consumption;

Available Amount of Effective Water Resources

(AAEWR) and could be calculated as follows.

𝑊𝛼



𝛼



𝑊



(2)

where 𝑊



is the average amount of water resources

for many years; 𝛼



is availability of water resources

and could be obtained by dividing the annual water

resources availability after frequency elimination by

the multi-year average; 𝛼



is the reduction factor of

water resources quality and defined as follows:

meet the standard

meet the s

not

tandard













(3)

where 𝐿



is the river length of water functional area;

𝐹



refers to the compliance of water functional areas

(WFA). Based on the natural attributes (resource

conditions, environmental conditions and

geographical location) and social attributes

(development and utilization status, water quality

and quantity demand) of water resources, WFA

divides the use functions of water bodies in various

river basins in Zhejiang Province according to

certain indicators and standards, and reasonably

determines its water quality protection objectives, so

as to ensure that the development and utilization of

water resources can bring into play the best

economic, social and environmental benefits.

Meanwhile, Water Resources Overload Degree

(WROD) is also proposed to measure the current

situation of water resources carrying potential as

follows:

𝑊𝑅𝑂𝐷 







 1 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑

 1 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑

(4)

where 𝑃 is the total population corresponding to the

evaluation time. The larger the WROD value, the

greater the bearing potential.

3 RESULTS

For the parameter



mentioned above, taking YR

as an example, the availability of water resources

with 50%, 75%, 90% and 95% guarantee rates are

32%, 24%, 17% and 15%, respectively. Obviously,

50% of the incoming water conditions are too

optimistic, while 90% of the guaranteed water

conditions are too harsh. This time, 75% of the

guaranteed water availability is used to analyze the

water resources carrying capacity. Meanwhile,

Taizhou City is divided into 113 WFA. In 2017, 73

WFA were monitored, and the water quality of 55

WFA reached the target requirements. According to

the catchment area and length of WFA, the water

quality compliance rate of WFA was weighted and

averaged, and the parameter



was obtained.

Further, the results shown in the following Table 1

can be obtained by calculation.

From the perspective of Taizhou city, its WROD

is 0.90, indicating that the city's WRCC is generally

loose, and there is still a surplus carrying capacity of

nearly 700,000 persons, leaving room for Taizhou's

future economic and social development. However,

from the perspective of each water resources

subareas, YR, SR and XPSB have strong WRCC,

and the WROD of YR is as low as 0.25, which is the

highest in the city. The water resources carrying

capacity of WP and YI, located in the southeast

coast of Taizhou, is seriously overloaded, among

which the former is the core area of Taizhou's

economic and social development. However, the

WROC is as high as 2.70, and the AAEWR are far

from supporting the economic and social

development of this region.

WRE 2021 - The International Conference on Water Resource and Environment

Table 1: The WRCC of Taizhou City (2017).

Subareas Topography

Area

10^8 m



10^8 m

ꞏperson^-1

WRCC

10^4 person

WROD

YR Hill

2357 23.2 0.235 1.00 5.45 303.7 179.5 44.8 0.25

SR Hill

1485 13.05 0.286 1.00 3.73 288.3 129.52 51.6 0.4

LRLJR

Hill

1485 14.42 0.328 0.54 2.56 280.4 91.26 86.8 0.95

Plain

Hill

2101 20.72 0.422 0.37 3.22 275.6 116.82 316 2.7

Plain

Hill

576 4.51 0.353 0.48 0.76 297.7 25.47 44.1 1.73

Plain

XPSB

Hill

1408 13.86 0.227 0.84 2.65 182.8 144.83 68.5 0.47

Plain

Taizhou 9412 89.76 0.305 0.66 18.37 270.1 680.07 611.8 0.9

4 DISCUSSIONS

Water resources are an important basic resource for

the development of national economy. To realize the

sustainable development of economy and society,

the prerequisite is to realize the sustainable

utilization of water resources and enhance the

supporting capacity of water resources for the

development of national economy. From the

previous analysis, due to the mismatch between

water resources endowment and the layout of

cultivated land, population and productivity,

Taizhou City has insufficient carrying capacity in

some regions and surplus in others. In the future, it

is necessary to follow the Spatial Balance Principle.

On the one hand, it takes the regional WRCC as a

rigid constraint to scientifically plan the scale,

structure, and layout of economic and social

development; On the other hand, by strengthening

water saving on the demand side and increasing

AAEWR on the supply side, the WRCC can be

improved, and the balance between water resources

and regional population and economy can be

promoted. Taking subarea of WP as an example,

there are three ways and measures to improve the

WRCC.

(1) Improve water quality. The



in WP is 0.37,

which indicates that the water quality in the water

functional area is poor. If the water quality

compliance rate in the water functional area is

improved by strengthening pollution control and



will be increased to 0.9 in the future, the WRCC in

WP can be increased to 2.86 million people, and

WROD can be reduced to 1.11, correspondingly.

(2) Advocate water-saving actions. The annual per

capita water consumption in WP is 275.6 m3/person,

who is basically the same as the average level of the

whole city. If the per capita water consumption is

reduced by 10% by strengthening water saving in

the future, the WRCC in WP can be further

increased by 3.18 million people, and the annual

water resources are basically not overloaded at the

current level.

(3) Implement water diversion project. WP is

originally a river network area, and its water

resources development and utilization conditions are

relatively poor. After the completion of the Taizhou

North-to-South Water Transfer Project (i.e., from the

YR Basin with relatively rich water resources to the

WP), it can increase the available water resources by

100 million m3. At that time, the WRCC of WP can

be further increased by 3.58 million people, and the

WROD from overload to looseness, increased to

1.13, leaving a certain development space for the

economy and society.

5 CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, a calculation method of AAEWR

considering the guaranteed rate of incoming water

and the standard rate of water quality is put forward,

and based on this, the WRCC of Taizhou City,

Zhejiang Province is analyzed. The research shows

that the current WRCC is generally in a loose state,

but there is a serious problem of uneven spatial

distribution, especially the WRCC in the subarea of

WP located in the southeast coast is serious. On the

Spatial Balance Principle, it is suggested that

measures such as improving water resources quality,

Spatial Analysis of Water Resources Carrying Capacity based on Available Amount of Effective Water Resources: A Case Study of Taizhou

City, China

advocating water-saving actions, and implementing

water diversion projects should be taken to improve

the WRCC in WP and promote the balance between

water resources and regional population and

economy.

REFERENCES

Cheng, K., Fu, Q., Meng, J., Li, T. X., & Pei, W. (2018).

Analysis of the spatial variation and identification of

factors affecting the water resources carrying capacity

based on the cloud model. Water Resources

Management, 32(8), 2767-2781.

Dou, M., Ma, J. X., Li, G. Q., & Zuo, Q. T. (2015).

Measurement and assessment of water resources

carrying capacity in Henan Province, China. Water

Science and Engineering, 8(2), 102-113.

Peng, T., Deng, H., Lin, Y., & Jin, Z. (2021). Assessment

on water resources carrying capacity in karst areas by

using an innovative DPESBRM concept model and

cloud model. Science of The Total Environment, 767,

144353.

Ren, C., Guo, P., Li, M., & Li, R. (2016). An innovative

method for water resources carrying capacity

research–metabolic theory of regional water resources.

Journal of Environmental Management, 167, 139-146.

Song, X. M., Kong, F. Z., & Zhan, C. S. (2011).

Assessment of water resources carrying capacity in

Tianjin City of China. Water Resources Management,

25(3), 857-873.

Xia, J., & Zhu, Y. Z. (2002). The measurement of water

resources security: A study and challenge on water

resources carrying capacity. Journal of Natural

Resources, 17(3), 262-269.

Yang, J., Lei, K., Khu, S., & Meng, W. (2015).

Assessment of water resources carrying capacity for

sustainable development based on a system dynamics

model: a case study of Tieling City, China. Water

Resources Management, 29(3), 885-899.

Yang, Z., Song, J., Cheng, D., Xia, J., Li, Q., & Ahamad,

M. I. (2019). Comprehensive evaluation and scenario

simulation for the water resources carrying capacity in

Xi'an city, China. Journal of environmental

management, 230, 221-233.

Zhao, Y., Wang, Y., & Wang, Y. (2021). Comprehensive

evaluation and influencing factors of urban

agglomeration water resources carrying capacity.

Journal of Cleaner Production, 288, 125097.

WRE 2021 - The International Conference on Water Resource and Environment