Study On The Optimization Of Regional Industrial Structure Based On The Virtual Water Theory

Water is the foundation of the survival and development of human beings as wellas the ecological environment. With the development of society and growth ofpopulation, the contradiction between the global water supply and demand hasbecame increasingly sharp, hence water shortage has became an importantconstraining factor for sustainable socio-economic development in many countries.How to adjust the industrial structure and optimize the allocation of water resourcesare significant to solving the problem of water resources and achieving the sustainabledevelopment of social economy and water resources. In recent years,"virtual watertrade", as a new approach to save water resources and optimize regional industrialstructure, has broken the limitation of entity water and provided a new perspective towater managers. The new concept which focuses on the virtual water amount from thewater product and service can provide a new way for the optimal redistribution ofwater resources in the population-product-trade circulation and compensation forthe defects of traditional methods in cost and technical aspects. So it has a greatsignificance to the research of sustainable utilization of water resources.From the perspective of virtual water, an input-output analysis framework ofregional water resources using the regional economic input-output table wasconstructed, based on this framework, a quantitative method was proposed in order tocalculate the virtual water amount in regional industry. The direct virtual watercoefficient model, the complete virtual water coefficient model, and the industrialwater use multiplier model were built respectively. And then the quota measurementsystem and regional water security evaluation model based on virtual water wereestablished to analyze the water allocation status. In the end, the water pricesensitivity model was built considering the industrial association measure and wateruse index to analyze the developmental option of the regional industry. Besides, thevirtual water trade method based on water price was recommended, using which theindustrial scale can be adjusted according to the production cost of each industry inthe region by raising the water price, and thus the industrial structure can be furtheroptimized.The related theories in this paper were verified using the example of Tianjin cityand the basic conclusions are as follows: the quantification method of virtual waterbased on water resources Input-Output analysis performs well in the analysis of theindustrial structure of Tianjin. The results of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation on water safety reveal that the water utilization structure is problematic, so the water resourcesallocation should be optimized to ensure the water safety in Tianjin. Besides, thevirtual water trade based on water price can regulate the industrial structure well andthe gross output of the economy can be increased in the context of water resourcessaving in Tianjin. So the virtual water trade strategy is applicable in improving theregional industrial structure and enhancing the efficiency of water utilization.