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Retrospective and prospective analysis of water use and point source pollution from an economic perspective—a case study of Urumqi, China

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Abstract

Using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, this study explored the dynamic trends of water use and point source pollution in Urumqi (2000–2014) from an economic perspective. Retrospective analysis results indicated that total GDP and GDP per capita increased around tenfold and a fivefold since 2000. Total, municipal and industrial water use had average annual growth rates of 3.96, 7.01, and 3.69%, respectively. However, agricultural water use, emissions of COD and NH3-N showed average annual decreases of 3.06, 12.40, and 4.74%. Regression models reveal that total water demand in Urumqi would keep monotonically increasing relationships with GDP and GDP per capita in the foreseeable years. However, the relations of specific water usage and economic growth showed diverse trends. In the future, the discharge of COD and NH3-N would further reduce with economic growth. It could be concluded that Urumqi has almost passed the stage where economic growth had caused serious environment deterioration, but the increasing water demand in Urumqi is still an urgent problem. The obtained results would be helpful for water resources management and pollution control in the future.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are extremely grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Funding

This research was supported by the NSERC (Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2015XS99, 2015ZZD08), National Natural Science Foundation of China (61471171), and the Environmental Protection Public Welfare Scientific Research Project (201509010).2

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Research Academy, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Bing Wang & Guohe Huang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, China

    Lei Liu

  3. Department of Civil and Resource Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada

    Lei Liu

Authors
  1. Bing Wang
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  2. Lei Liu
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  3. Guohe Huang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lei Liu.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1 Regression analysis of the water consumption indices on UGDP
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Table 2 Regression analysis of the water consumption indices on GDP
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Table 3 Regression analysis of pollutants emission indices on UGDP
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Table 4 Regression analysis of pollutants emission indices on GDP
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Wang, B., Liu, L. & Huang, G. Retrospective and prospective analysis of water use and point source pollution from an economic perspective—a case study of Urumqi, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 26016–26028 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0199-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0199-4

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