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A water resources assessment framework for management strategies of large coal-power bases development in China

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Abstract

China is a coal-rich country and produces 50% of the global total coal production. Coal is the source of 51.8% of total energy consumption and, therefore, the most critical and crucial driver of China’s economic development. The number of coal-fired power plants has increased rapidly in China in recent years to support economic growth, which has made the power plants the largest coal user (57.7%) in the country. With the continuous expansion of coal power plants, China’s coal production increased by 115 million tons per year from 2000 to 2020. This has caused a rapid increase in both water abstraction and the discharge of untreated wastewater, contributing to serious pollution, an imbalance between water supply and demand, groundwater overexploitation, and ecological degradation in the areas with extensive coal mining, coal-fired power generation, and the coal chemical industry. There is an urgent need for an in-depth study and assessment of the advances in the water resources management strategies in large coal-power bases to assess the impact and recommend the strategy for achieving sustainability in water resources. In this paper, a comprehensive, consistent, adaptable, and systematic water resource assessment framework is developed. The strategies are proposed for planning and managing large coal-power bases in China to fill the existing gap in the project planning, development, and implementation of coal mines and power plants and help China to become a carbon-neutral country by 2060.

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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in Xiaojun Wang et al.

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Funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 41961124006, 52121006, 51722905, 51911540477], Young Top-Notch Talent Support Program of National High-level Talents Special Support Plan, National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2017YFC0403506), Strategic Consulting Projects of Chinese Academy of Engineering (grant number 2016-ZD-08–05-02), China water resource fee funded project [grant numbers 1261530210042, 1261530210034] and China Water Resource Conservation and Protection Project [grant number 126302001000180014], Research Project of Ministry of Natural Resources [grant number 20210103], Research Project of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Natural Resources [grant numbers 2021003, 2022022], Research Project of Jiangsu Land and Resources Research Center [grant numbers 2020TDZY06, ZK202106, ZK22003], Six Talents Peak Project of Jiangsu Province [grant number JNHB-068], 333 High-level Talents Cultivation Project of Jiangsu Province and Water Science and Technology Project of Department of Water Resources of Zhejiang Province [grant number RA1704] for providing financial support for this research. We are also thankful to anonymous reviewers and editors for their helpful comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, No. 225 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Wang Xiao-jun & Zhang Jian-yun

  2. Research Center for Climate Change, Ministry of Water Resources, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Wang Xiao-jun & Zhang Jian-yun

  3. Head of Water Resources Section, Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia

    Amgad Elmahdi

  4. Water Sector Lead, Green Climate Fund-GCF, Incheon, Korea

    Amgad Elmahdi

  5. Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

    Shamsuddin Shahid

  6. Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Gao Juan

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  1. Wang Xiao-jun
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Correspondence to Wang Xiao-jun.

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Xiao-jun, W., Jian-yun, Z., Elmahdi, A. et al. A water resources assessment framework for management strategies of large coal-power bases development in China. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 28, 35 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-023-10067-4

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