Sustainable flood control strategies under extreme rainfall: Allocation of flood drainage rights in the middle and lower reaches of the yellow river based on a new decision-making framework.

Climate change has exacerbated the frequency and magnitude of extreme rainfall, which has led to the perpetuation of flooding as a hazard to humans and society. China has begun to consider introducing Flood drainage rights (FDR), a sustainable flood control measure, into non-engineering measures as a complement to engineering measures for flood control. FDR represent the right of regions to discharge regional floodwaters caused by extreme rainfall into the river, and are the primary means of controlling the amount of floodwaters from regions when regional flood capacity is exceeded. However, existing studies on quantitative FDR allocation still have limitations, and some previous methods have resulted in allocation schemes that are not entirely reasonable and fair because they do not comprehensively consider the influencing factors of FDR or the allocation method is unreasonable. This paper explores the impact of flooding on rural and agricultural areas. We incorporate the factors of agricultural economy and security and construct a system of the allocation indicators of FDR composed of five principles: Natural Environmental Endowment, General Economic and Social Development, Agricultural Economy and Security, Macro policy regulation, and Respect for Historical Background. Second, considering the influence of expert judgment and data of different time nodes on the allocation of FDR, we introduce the concepts of expert weight and time weight into the allocation model of FDR, and construct a new set of framework for the allocation of FDR, i.e., "[(expert weight + subjective weight)+(time weight + objective weight)]+decision making model ". To reduce the loss of information during the transformation of subjective judgments, we also introduced triangular fuzzy numbers for the transformation between expert judgments and numbers. Finally, we take the five provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River as an example. Using the data from 2010 to 2021, we obtain the final allocation scheme (proportion) of FDR as Henan (33.26%) > Shaanxi (23.08%) > Inner Mongolia (21.31%) > Shanxi (14.44%) > Shandong (7.91%). On this basis, this paper utilizes sensitivity analysis and comparative validation to demonstrate the rationality and effectiveness of the method, and identifies several indicators that have a greater impact on the results of the allocation of FDR. FDR can form part of a set of integrated flood management system together with flood control projects, which greatly alleviates the drainage conflicts arising from flooding caused by extreme precipitation. Under extreme rainfall conditions, FDR improves drainage efficiency and minimizes the overall damage caused by flooding in the watershed. This study can contribute to the sustainable development of the watershed and provide a reference for the promotion and utilization of sustainable flood control measures.

Quality evaluation of water disclosure of Chinese papermaking enterprises based on accelerated genetic algorithm.

As the carrier of enterprise water resources management disclosure, water information disclosure is a means of expression of enterprises' environmental responsibility. First, a corporate water information disclosure quality evaluation index system and evaluation method are established, and with the help of the projection tracing method of accelerated genetic algorithm, 27 paper companies in China are selected as a sample and the disclosure quality level is analyzed empirically. Then, the analysis is carried out in terms of three changes in vertical trends, horizontal trends and changes in laws, regulations and policies, and the results show that Chinese paper and paper product enterprises have low quality of water information disclosure, weak disclosure content and low voluntary disclosure. Finally, feasible suggestions are made based on the evaluation of disclosure issues.

Long Short-Term Memory-based simulation study of river happiness evaluation - A case study of Jiangsu section of Huaihe River Basin in China.

Real-time prediction of the state of the river itself and the degree of its benefit to the people is the leading way to achieve human-water harmony. Using the indicator scoring method as the evaluation method, we used the river evaluation data and results with time series characteristics as features and labels and applied the concept of transfer learning to Long Short-Term Memory to establish six subsystems, including water safety, water quality, economic contribution, water ecology, water management and water culture, to conduct a real-time rolling evaluation simulation study on the degree of river happiness in the Jiangsu section of the Huaihe River Basin in China. The empirical results show that the maximum Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the training set and test set of each system is 0.0226, and the lowest coefficient of determination R2 is 0.9011, which proves that the model fits well, according to which the relevant data of the watershed in June 2022 are brought in, and the evaluation result is obtained as 89.77 points. The overall trend is good, but a certain tendency to fall back at the level of economic contribution can be found, and the reasons are analyzed objectively.

Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity and Driving Factors of Water Resource and Environment Carrying Capacity under High-Quality Economic Development in China.

Rapid economic growth and social development in China have led to serious water pollution problems and water resource shortages, limiting the sustainable development that could support both the socio-economy and water resources carrying capacity (WRECC). However, the spatial heterogeneity and evolutionary characteristics of the coordination between the WRECC and economic development have not been adequately explored in China. In this study, we developed the support and pressure indicators of China's 30 provinces and then analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution and evolution characteristics of their WRECC by using the geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model. The main findings are shown in the following: (i) From a temporal perspective, there has been an overall upward trend in the WRECC to support human activities; however, the WRECC level is not high. Approximately 63.7% of provinces remain in an overloaded state, indicating that the support indicator of most provinces is smaller than the pressure indicator imposed by human social activities. (ii) There are significant spatial differences in the WRECC indicators across provinces. Provinces with low-level WRECCs are concentrated in central China but decrease significantly from the country's borders to its center. Eastern regions have a medium-level of WRECC with the greatest degree of regional difference, while western regions have a high-level of WRECC with the smallest degree of regional difference. The variation of WRECC is attributed to within-group differences in the three geographical regions in China. (iii) The factors that significantly impact the WRECC include population density, gross domestic product (GDP), temperature, urbanization, the added value of tertiary industry within the GDP, and R&D expenditures. GDP and R&D expenditures positively impact the WRECC, while the other four factors have different influences on the WRECC. (iv) The spatial distributions of driving factors show significant aggregation characteristics, with decreasing trends from the eastern to western regions and from the southern to northern regions. These findings present a comprehensive understanding of the current WRECC in China's provinces which can be used as a reference for realizing environmentally sustainable water development strategies under high-quality economic development.

Spatial-temporal variation and driving factors decomposition of agricultural grey water footprint in China.

The management of agricultural water pollution is crucial to alleviate the water crisis and promote regional sustainable development. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the spatial-temporal variation characteristics of the agricultural grey water footprint (GWF) and accurately identify its main influencing factors, aiming at formulating differentiated regional management strategies. Based on this, the agricultural GWFs of 31 provincial regions in China from 2011 to 2019 were firstly calculated, and then the spatial-temporal variation characteristics of agricultural GWF were analyzed using the ArcGIS software and Standard Deviational Ellipse (SDE) method. Finally, the Generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM) was creatively introduced to decompose the factors of agricultural GWF change and their respective contributions at the national and provincial levels. The main results are as follow: (1) Agricultural GWF in China decreased on the whole and showed significant provincial differences. Among them, the agricultural GWF of Henan Province was the largest while that of Shanghai City was the smallest. Compared with 2011, most provinces saw a decrease in agricultural GWF in 2019 while Yunnan, Tibet, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang Provinces achieved growth. (2) Areas with higher agricultural GDP generally had higher agricultural GWF. The spatial distribution of agricultural GWF and breeding GWF generally tended to be consistent, with the lower value in northwest and southeast of China and higher value in the northeast and southwest of China. Meanwhile, the mean center of SDE of agricultural GWF was located in Henan Province from 2011 to 2018, and shifted to Shaanxi Province in 2019, showing a slight northwest shift. (3) Agricultural GWF intensity and agricultural GDP had the largest restraining effect and driving effect on agricultural GWF growth, respectively. Additionally, China has achieved decoupling between agricultural GWF and agricultural GDP, reflecting that the patterns of agricultural production and consumption have become more sustainable. The findings of this study can provide important decision-making insights for agricultural water pollution management and industry adjustment.

Allocation of Flood Drainage Rights in Watershed Using a Hybrid FBWM-Grey-TOPSIS Method: A Case Study of the Jiangsu Section of the Sunan Canal, China.

In this study, an FDR allocation scheme based on synergetic theory was designed to alleviate the drainage conflicts caused by the grabbing of flood drainage rights (FDR) in each region of the basin. An FDR allocation index system was constructed by employing synergetic theory and following the principles of safety, equity, efficiency, and sustainability. A new multi-criteria decision-making method, called FBWM-Grey-TOPSIS, was developed, which is based on the integration of the fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM) and Grey-TOPSIS. Among them, the FBWM method was used to distinguish the importance of subsystems and order parameters, and the Grey-TOPSIS method is applied to obtain the optimal FDR assignment results. Taking the Jiangsu section of the Sunan Canal as an example, the FDRs of the four regions in the basin were allocated. The results reveal that the proportion of FDRs obtained in descending order is Changzhou (32.69%), Suzhou (24.88%), Wuxi (23.01%), and Zhenjiang (19.42%). In addition, the performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis with the existing methods. The methodology and research results presented in this paper can help governments and agencies achieve a scientific allocation of FDR in watersheds, thus promoting harmonious watershed development.

Quantitative evaluation of ecological compensation policies for the watershed in China: based on the improved Policy Modeling Consistency Index.

Ecological compensation policies for the watershed (ECPW) have played a guiding role in establishing a sound watershed ecological compensation system with Chinese characteristics, and the quantitative evaluation of current policies can provide a reference for policy optimization. Firstly, taking 77 ECPW promulgated in China from 2006 to 2020 as the research objects, this paper extracted keyword frequencies using a text mining method, and then selected the policy indicators by combining the policy characteristics and existing results of watershed ecological compensation. Secondly, the Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the weights of the variables and improve the Policy Modeling Consistency Index (PMC-Index). Finally, the empirical analysis was conducted on six typical policies and the differences among P1, P3, and P5 at the three levels of the national, provincial, and municipal levels were further explored and compared. It was found that (1) the consistency evaluation of P1, P2, P3, and P4 were excellent levels, and that of P5 and P6 were acceptable levels. (2) The mean value of an improved PMC-Index of the six strategies was 0.6287, which indicated that the overall performance of the quality of ECPW was good, but still room for improvement. (3) The quality of China's ECPW showed a trend that the higher the level of government, the better the overall performance of the policy. The more targeted the ECPW, the lower the PMC index score, which is manifested in indicators such as incentive measures, policy mechanisms, policy areas, and policy functions. This study helps to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of China's single ECPW.

Allocation of Flood Drainage Rights Based on the PSR Model and Pythagoras Fuzzy TOPSIS Method.

To minimize losses caused by flooding of areas in a river basin, flood risk management may sacrifice the interests of some areas. Because of regional differences in natural and urban conditions, rankings of the urgencies of flood drainage rights allocations in different regions are of great practical significance to the realization of optimal allocations and reduction of damages. Based on the "pressure-state-response" (PSR) framework, this study designed an index system of flood drainage rights allocations in river basins for the comprehensive consideration of the different attributes of regional societies, environments, and technologies, as well as the differences in the quality of technical management and in the levels of social and economic development. A Pythagoras fuzzy TOPSIS method was used to evaluate the urgencies and determine the management of allocations in different areas. Eight cities in Jiangsu Province in the Huai River Basin were selected as the research objects. The results showed that pressure factors played dominant roles in the degrees of urgency. Among the cities, Nantong had the highest degree, followed by Taizhou, whereas Lianyungang had the lowest. The degrees in the central region of Jiangsu were higher than in the northern region.

Study of the Allocation of Regional Flood Drainage Rights in Watershed Based on Entropy Weight TOPSIS Model: A Case Study of the Jiangsu Section of the Huaihe River, China.

During the flood season, various regions in a watershed often have flood drainage conflicts, when the regions compete for flood drainage rights (FDR). In order to solve this problem, it is very necessary to study the allocation of FDR among various regions in the watershed. Firstly, this paper takes fairness, efficiency and sustainable development as the allocation principles, and comprehensively considers the differences of natural factors, social development factors, economic development factors and ecological environment factors in various regions. Then, an indicator system for allocation of FDR among regions in the watershed is established. Secondly, an entropy weight Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) model is used to construct the FDR allocation model among regions in the watershed. Based on a harmony evaluation model, a harmony evaluation and comparison are carried out on the FDR allocation schemes under three different allocation principles. Finally, taking the Jiangsu section of the Huaihe River watershed as an example, the FDR of eight cities in the watershed are allocated and evaluated to see if the allocation scheme is harmonious. The results show that the allocation scheme of FDR based on the principles of fairness, efficiency and sustainable development has the highest degree of harmony, which can meet the FDR demands in various regions in the watershed, avoid the occurrence of flood drainage conflicts among regions, form an orderly flood drainage situation and promote the harmonious development of the watershed.

Initial allocation of flood drainage rights based on a PSR model and entropy-based matter-element theory in the Sunan Canal, China.

The pursuit of flood prevention safety and the mitigation of drainage contradiction against an unnecessary influx of floodwater require a modern and efficient model to optimize the management of the initial allocation of flood drainage rights. We attempted to formulate a framework for initial flood drainage rights allocation to promote the sustainable drainage of the Sunan Canal, China. The Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model was constructed using a literature review and interviews with experts and directors using 18 key indicators being determined from field surveys and library studies. We then assessed the flood status of Zhenjiang City, Changzhou City, Wuxi City and Suzhou City in the Sunan Canal zone using an entropy-based matter-element model. The flood drainage rights for a total of 400m3/s was allocated to the four cities in accordance with their flood status. Our research demonstrated that, overall, the four cities may gain the flood drainage rights of 106.67m3/s,120.40m3/s, 118.22m3/s and 54.71m3/s, respectively. Specifically, the calculation of the flood drainage for Wuxi was very close to the actual allocation in 2016, whereas there were differences in the other cities that should not be neglected.

Use of Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and Environmental Gini Coefficient for Allocation of Regional Flood Drainage Rights.

To solve the flood drainage conflict among different regions of the water basin when the flood occurs, it is of great significance to study the allocation of flood drainage rights. The allocation of flood drainage rights requires flood management departments to consider the influences of socioeconomic differences among different regions on flood control operations to realize sustainable development. Under the pattern of the total amount allocation of "watershed-administrative regions", the evaluation index system of flood drainage rights allocation incorporated four aspects: natural conditions, level of social development, level of economic development, and technology and management. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) was used to calculate the weight coefficient of each allocation index and the initial distribution's proportion of the total amount in each region. Land area, population, gross domestic product (GDP), and sewage treatment capacity were selected as the evaluation indexes of the environmental Gini coefficient, and the environmental Gini coefficient method was used to evaluate and adjust the initial allocation of each region. Taking the allocation of flood drainage rights in the Taihu Basin as a case study, the final allocation results were obtained after initial allocation and feedback optimization. By evaluating the environmental Gini coefficient of each evaluation index, it is concluded that the final allocation could meet the requirements of fair allocation in each administrative region and be effectively implemented. Optimal allocation of the flood drainage rights in the Taihu Basin can contribute to overall flood control management, the reduction of flood disasters, and the stable development of society in the basin.

Decoupling Analysis of Water Footprint and Economic Growth: A Case Study of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region from 2004 to 2017.

The Beijing-Tianji-Hebei region (BTHR) is economically developed and densely populated, but its water resources are extremely scarce. A clear understanding of the decoupling relationship between water footprint and economic growth is conducive to facilitating and realizing the coordinated development of water resources and economic growth in this region. This study calculated the water footprint and other related indicators of BTHR from 2004 to 2017, and objectively evaluated the utilization of water resources in the region. Then, logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) method was applied to study the driving factors that resulted in the change of water footprint and their respective effects. Finally, Tapio decoupling model was used to research the decoupling relationships between water footprint and economic growth, and between the driving factors of water footprint and economic growth. There are three main results in this research. (1) The water utilization efficiency in BTHR continues to improve, and the water footprint shows a gradually increasing trend during the research period, among which the agricultural water footprint accounts for a relatively high proportion. (2) The change of water footprint can be attributed to efficiency effect, economic effect, and population effect. Furthermore, efficiency effect is the decisive factor of water footprint reduction and economic effect is the main factor of water footprint increase, while population effect plays a weak role in promoting the increase in water footprint. (3) The decoupling status between water footprint and economic growth show a weak decoupling in most years, while the status between water footprint intensity and economic growth always remains strong decoupling. Moreover, population size and economic growth always show an expansive coupling state. In sum, it is advisable for policy makers to improve water utilization efficiency, especially agricultural irrigation efficiency, to raise residents' awareness of water conservation, and increase the import of water-intensive products, so as to alleviate water shortage and realize the coordinated development of water resources and economic growth in BTHR.

Dynamic Analysis of the Coupling Coordination Relationship between Urbanization and Water Resource Security and Its Obstacle Factor.

Water resource security is an important condition for socio-economic development. Recently, the process of urbanization brings increasing pressures on water resources. Thus, a good understanding of harmonious development of urbanization and water resource security (WRS) systems is necessary. This paper examined the coordination state between urbanization and WRS and its obstacle factors in Beijing city, utilizing the improved coupling coordination degree (ICCD) model, obstacle degree model, and indicator data from 2008 to 2017. Results indicated that: (1) The coupling coordination degree between WRS and urbanization displayed an overall upward tendency during the 2008-2017 period; the coupling coordination state has changed from an imbalanced state into a good coordination state, experiencing from a high-speed development stage (2008-2010), through a steady growth stage (2010-2014), towards a low-speed growth (2014-2017). (2) In urbanization system, both the social and spatial urbanizations have the greatest obstruction to the development of urbanization-WRS system. The subsystems of pressure and state are the domain obstacle subsystems in WRS system. These results can provide important support for urban planning and water resource protection in the future, and hold great significance for urban sustainable development.

An evolutionary game analysis of governments' decision-making behaviors and factors influencing watershed ecological compensation in China.

As a way to coordinate the interests of multi-government and solve the problem of transboundary water pollution, watershed ecological compensation system has been promoted in China. It is necessary to understand the influencing factors of watershed ecological compensation from the perspective of how interactions occur between different governments. This paper analyses the interaction among upstream governments, downstream governments and the central government in the Eastern Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project, using evolutionary game theory. In particular, how ecological benefits are distributed between upstream and downstream governments is analyzed. Simultaneously, numerical simulation is used to analyze the effects of influencing factors on governments' behaviors. The results show that: (1) the initial willingness of governments to corporate affect their final behaviors; (2) upstream and downstream governments cannot spontaneously cooperate to implement watershed ecological compensation system without supervision of the central government; (3) opportunity costs only have a significant impact on upstream governments; (4) punishment on downstream governments can effectively influence the behaviors of governments at all levels; (5) high ecological compensation fee improve downstream governments' willness not to pay; (6) upstream governments get about 78% of ecological benefits due to the implementation of watershed ecological compensation system.

Changes in Ecosystem Services Value and Establishment of Watershed Ecological Compensation Standards.

Ecological compensation standards and the allocation of compensation funds have always been the core issues of watershed ecological compensation. Due to the construction of the Eastern Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP), Jiangsu Province has paid a huge cost for the protection of water resources, and local economic development has been greatly affected. Therefore, this paper takes Jiangsu Province, the water source area of the Eastern Route of the SNWTP as an example, and combines a geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing technology, using the ecosystem services value method to calculate the ecosystem services value of Jiangsu Province from 2005 to 2018. Then the change of this ecosystem services value in Jiangsu Province from 2015 to 2018 is taken as the basis for watershed ecological compensation standards of the Eastern Route. Through a compensation fund allocation model, watershed ecological compensation funds are allocated to four cities, Yangzhou, Huai'an, Suqian and Xuzhou, which are located along the Eastern Route of this SNWTP in Jiangsu Province. The results show that: (1) The ecosystem services value of Jiangsu Province has changed greatly. Urbanization and market environment of grain crops are the main reasons for this change; (2) the relationship between ecosystem services in Jiangsu Province is mainly synergistic; (3) Suqian receives US$24.73 million; Huai'an receives US$16.49 million; Yangzhou receives US$54.88 million and Xuzhou receives US$0.95 million in watershed ecological compensation, respectively. Watershed ecological compensation standards based upon the value of ecosystem services, and the allocation of compensation funds at the municipal level, are conducive to the improvement in efficiency of watershed ecological compensation in mainland China.

The Driving Forces of Point Source Wastewater Emission: Case Study of COD and NH4-N Discharges in Mainland China.

Excess consumption of water resources and environmental pollution have become major challenges restricting sustainable development in China. In order to prevent the pollution of water resources, policymakers should have reliable emission reduction strategies. This paper aims to contribute new knowledge by analyzing the spatial-temporal characteristics and driving forces of point source emission. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) emission variations in 31 provinces and municipalities of mainland China during the years 2004-2017 are analyzed. The results obtained using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method indicate that: (1) the COD and NH4-N emission effects have similar temporal characteristics. Technology improvement and pollutant emission intensity are the main factors inhibiting the incremental COD and NH4-N emission effects, while economic development is the main driving factor of COD and NH4-N emission effects. Population increases play a relatively less important role in COD and NH4-N emission effects. (2) The spatial features of COD and NH4-N emission effects show differences among provinces and municipalities. The reduction of COD emission effects in each province and municipality is obviously better than that of NH4-N emissions. (3) In the eastern, central, and the western regions of China, the total COD emission effect shows a downward trend, while apart from the central region, the NH4-N emission effect appears to be rising in the east and west of China. Therefore, increasing investment into pollution treatment, promoting awareness of water conservation, strengthening technological and financial support from the more developed eastern to the less developed central and western regions, can help to reduce the COD and NH4-N emissions in China.

A Pricing Model for Groundwater Rights in Ningxia, China Based on the Fuzzy Mathematical Model.

To reduce groundwater overexploitation and alleviate water shortages, market mechanisms are introduced to allocate water rights. Scientific and reasonable pricing of groundwater rights is key to ensuring the effectiveness of the groundwater market. Because of the complexity and uncertainty of water resources, this study calculates the price of groundwater rights based on the value of water resources with an evaluation indicator system. The system includes 14 indicators developed with a fuzzy mathematics model addressing three dimensions: environment, society, and economy. The weights of the indicators are determined through the analytic network process (ANP) and the entropy method. The results show that the price of groundwater rights in Ningxia, China increased from 5.11 yuan/m3 to 5.73 yuan/m3 between 2013 and 2017; this means the price was basically stable, with a slight increase. The ratio of residents' water fee expenditures to real disposable income also remained essentially stable, fluctuating around 0.37%, far below the normal level. These data demonstrated that the current regional water price policy does not reflect the true value of groundwater resources; there is room to increase urban water prices. Local governments need speed up water price system reforms and adopt water rights systems to optimize water resource allocations.

Coupling and Coordination Degrees of the Core Water⁻Energy⁻Food Nexus in China.

Achieving sustainable development in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is gaining global attention. The coupling and coordination degrees are a way to measure sustainable development levels of a complex system. This study assessed the coupling and coordination degrees of the core WEF nexus and identified key factors that affect sustainable development. First, an index system for assessing coupling and coordination degrees of the core WEF nexus was built. Second, the development levels of three subsystems as well as the coupling and coordination degrees of the core WEF nexus in China were calculated. The results showed that from 2007 to 2016, the mean value of the coupling degree was 0.746 (range (0.01, 1)), which was a high level. This proved that the three resources were interdependent. Hence, it was necessary to study their relationship. However, the mean value of the coordination degree was 0.395 (range (0, 1)), which was a low level. This showed that the coordination development of the core WEF nexus in China was low. It is necessary to take some measures to improve the situation. According to the key factors that affect the development levels of water, energy, and food subsystems, the authors put forward some suggestions to improve the coordination development of the WEF system in China.