The water audit mode of water environment and water ecology based on evaporation in industrial parks

Abstract

Abstract With large-scale industrial parks developing, concern regarding high evaporation and its spillover impacts on water environment and water ecology has grown significantly in recent years. However, it is hard for the traditional water audit to meet the needs of the collaborative management of water environment and water ecology based on evaporation (3E), which requires a multi-dimensional evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to accurately evaluate industrial parks' impact considering the water life-cycle. This paper proposes a systematic 3E water audit method that contains a logical framework and a comprehensive evaluation index system with five dimensions and 25 indexes, then applies it to a typical iron and steel industrial park in China. The results presented the 3E audit score of the Chengsteel IP as 89.91, suggesting comprehensive performance is good. The score and grade of every index, especially the quantity of water evaporation per ton of steel, were provided. This paper indicates that the new method developed can systematically evaluate the impact of industrial parks. In addition, our analysis highlights the different management strategies and practices that relieve the impacts of the whole water-use process on legal, eco-environmental, economic, social, and technical dimensions.