Work

Quantifying ecosystem-human water trade-offs: A clean water scarcity perspective

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: 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.

Source: Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102526

Authors: Shanlin Tong, Jie Chen, Rui Xia, Wenpan Li, Yan Chen, Chong-Yu Xu

Institutions: Wuhan University, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, China National Environmental Monitoring Center, University of Oslo

Language: English

Topic: Water Resources and Sustainability

Subfield: Water Science and Technology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Clean water and sanitation

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,600