City level water withdrawal and scarcity accounts of China

In the context of China’s freshwater crisis high-resolution data are critical for sustainable water management and economic growth. Yet there is a dearth of data on water withdrawal and scarcity regardless of whether total or subsector amount, for prefectural cities. In administrative and territorial scope, we accounted for water withdrawal of all 63 economic-socio-environmental sectors for all 343 prefectural cities in China, based on a general framework and 2015 data. Spatial and economic-sector resolution is improved compared with previous studies by partitioning general sectors into industrial and agricultural sub-sectors. Construction of these datasets was based on selection of 16 driving forces. We connected a size indicator with corresponding water-withdrawal efficiency. We further accounted for total blue-water withdrawal and quantitative water scarcity status. Then we compared different scopes and methods of official accounts and statistics from various water datasets. These disaggregated and complete data could be used in input-output models for municipal design and governmental planning to help gain in-depth insights into subsector water-saving priorities from local economic activities

Subsector water withdrawal of 13 cities from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei agglomeration, in 2012

For method validation, we additionally estimated 2012 data, using an identical methodology, because Zhou et al. (2020) merely provided data before 2013. These data were attached separately and extendedly as time-series datasets

China city-level subsector water withdrawal inventory

China city-level subsector water withdrawal inventor

city-level subsector industrial output dataset, 2015

The subsector industrial output data were proofed and corrected by the authors, according to the China City Statistical Yearbook. We regarded the China City Statistical Yearbook as consistent and true magnitudes

China city-level total water withdrawal inventory

China city-level total water withdrawal inventor

city-level subsector industrial and farming water withdrawal intensity dataset, 2015

Farming intensity data were water withdrawal per irrigated area, estimated using the latest 2015 total farming irrigation. Industrial intensity data were water withdrawal per industrial output. They were from a point-sourced survey. These are in the sequence of thirty-four province-level administrative units