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Assessment of water resource carrying capacity in karst area of Southwest China

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Abstract

Water resources are essential for sustainable economic and social development, especially in the karst regions of Southwest China. Guizhou Province was selected as a representative area to explore water resource carrying capacity (WRCC) in karst regions. The concepts of carrying capacity of utilization amount of water resource (CCUWR) and gross amount of water resources (CCGWR) were proposed to evaluate the scales of population, agriculture and economy that local water resources can support. Results show that actual values of population and cultivated land were much larger than the CCUWR, indicating that both population and agriculture were overburdened from 1999 to 2012. However, actual values of GDP were smaller than those of CCGWR and CCUWR, suggesting that water resources were in surplus relative to economic development. In comparison between actual values and those of CCGWR, the WRCC potential for the scales of population and cultivated land is low, but the potential for the economy is high. The discrepancy between the water resources and cultivated land was most pronounced in Guizhou. This paper indicates that it is urgent to enforce rational policies to ensure utilization efficiency of water resources in karst regions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2010BAE00739), the Remote Sensing Survey and Ground Monitoring on Karst Rocky Desertification in Southwest China (No. 1212011220958) and the Ministry of Water Resources of China (No. 2005SBKK05). We acknowledge all the reviewers and editors of the journal for their valuable comments, suggestions and revisions on this paper, which greatly improved the original manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Karst Environment and Rock Desertification Control, School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Qiyong Yang, Daoxian Yuan & Yongjun Jiang

  2. Key Laboratory of Karst Ecosystem and Treatment of Rocky Desertification, Institute of Karst Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Guilin, 541004, China

    Qiyong Yang, Fawang Zhang, Zhongcheng Jiang & Daoxian Yuan

  3. The Collaborative Innovation Center of the Ecological Environment & Integration Development in the Xijiang River Basin, Nanning, 530001, China

    Qiyong Yang

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  1. Qiyong Yang
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  2. Fawang Zhang
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  3. Zhongcheng Jiang
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  4. Daoxian Yuan
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  5. Yongjun Jiang
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Correspondence to Qiyong Yang or Fawang Zhang.

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Yang, Q., Zhang, F., Jiang, Z. et al. Assessment of water resource carrying capacity in karst area of Southwest China. Environ Earth Sci 75, 37 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4816-6

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