Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspective
Study region: Yangtze River basin. Study focus: Water security is a long-standing concern in developing and developed countries, putting rigorous standards on the reliability of approaches applied to identity and access water scarcity. Previous methods for assessing water scarcity have primarily foc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581825003519 |
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| author | Shanlin Tong Jie Chen Rui Xia Wenpan Li Yan Chen Chong-Yu Xu |
| author_facet | Shanlin Tong Jie Chen Rui Xia Wenpan Li Yan Chen Chong-Yu Xu |
| author_sort | Shanlin Tong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Study region: Yangtze River basin. Study focus: Water security is a long-standing concern in developing and developed countries, putting rigorous standards on the reliability of approaches applied to identity and access water scarcity. Previous methods for assessing water scarcity have primarily focused on the quantitative and qualitative needs of human water consumption, underestimating the spatiotemporal fluctuation in water demand of ecosystems and the impacts of ecological water scarcity. Here, we introduce a novel approach to estimate clean water stress index by integrating changes in ecosystem requirement and human demand. New hydrological insights for the region: We calculated clean water stress index (CWSI) and distinguished different types of water scarcity in the Yangtze River basin. Results indicate an upward tendency in CWSI from 2010 to 2020, with severe deficiencies occurred in upstream regions. Nearly 9.52 % of grid cells were threatened by ecology-based water scarcity. The increase in environmental flow requirement exacerbated clean water scarcity, which was unevenly distributed across temporal and spatial dimensions. The weighted Theil’s index increased from 0.283 in 2010–0.417 in 2020. Scenario simulations show that the variations of clean water stress index were predominantly driven by natural factor, while human activity assumed a secondary role. Our proposed approach provides a novel perspective for elucidating the impacts of ecosystem and human on water security. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e53ecfe69bb643ecbebe7c925815ec8e |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2214-5818 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-e53ecfe69bb643ecbebe7c925815ec8e2025-08-20T03:08:31ZengElsevierJournal of Hydrology: Regional Studies2214-58182025-08-016010252610.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102526Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspectiveShanlin Tong0Jie Chen1Rui Xia2Wenpan Li3Yan Chen4Chong-Yu Xu5State Key Laboratory of Water Resources Engineering and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, PR ChinaState Key Laboratory of Water Resources Engineering and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, PR China; Corresponding authors.State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China; Corresponding authors.China National Environmental Monitoring Center, Beijing 100012, PR ChinaState Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR ChinaDepartment of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0316, NorwayStudy region: Yangtze River basin. Study focus: Water security is a long-standing concern in developing and developed countries, putting rigorous standards on the reliability of approaches applied to identity and access water scarcity. Previous methods for assessing water scarcity have primarily focused on the quantitative and qualitative needs of human water consumption, underestimating the spatiotemporal fluctuation in water demand of ecosystems and the impacts of ecological water scarcity. Here, we introduce a novel approach to estimate clean water stress index by integrating changes in ecosystem requirement and human demand. New hydrological insights for the region: We calculated clean water stress index (CWSI) and distinguished different types of water scarcity in the Yangtze River basin. Results indicate an upward tendency in CWSI from 2010 to 2020, with severe deficiencies occurred in upstream regions. Nearly 9.52 % of grid cells were threatened by ecology-based water scarcity. The increase in environmental flow requirement exacerbated clean water scarcity, which was unevenly distributed across temporal and spatial dimensions. The weighted Theil’s index increased from 0.283 in 2010–0.417 in 2020. Scenario simulations show that the variations of clean water stress index were predominantly driven by natural factor, while human activity assumed a secondary role. Our proposed approach provides a novel perspective for elucidating the impacts of ecosystem and human on water security.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581825003519Clean water scarcityEnvironmental flow requirementHuman water demandNatural factorHuman activity |
| spellingShingle | Shanlin Tong Jie Chen Rui Xia Wenpan Li Yan Chen Chong-Yu Xu Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspective Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies Clean water scarcity Environmental flow requirement Human water demand Natural factor Human activity |
| title | Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspective |
| title_full | Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspective |
| title_fullStr | Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspective |
| title_short | Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspective |
| title_sort | quantifying ecosystem human water trade offs a clean water scarcity perspective |
| topic | Clean water scarcity Environmental flow requirement Human water demand Natural factor Human activity |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581825003519 |
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