Evaluation of Water Resource Utilization Efficiency in Provincial Areas of China Based on the Unexpected Output SBM Model

Abstract

Based on the SBM model including unexpected output, this paper studies the water resource utilization efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2019. The study found that China’s water resource utilization efficiency showed obvious provincial differences. The water resource utilization efficiency of most eastern coastal provinces was relatively high, and that of most central and western inland provinces was not high. There are also significant differences among the three regions of the East, the middle, and the West. The utilization efficiency of water resources in the East is the highest, followed by the middle, and the West is the lowest. The redundancy of input factors, such as labor, capital, and water consumption, is the main reason for the low efficiency of water resource utilization, and the redundancy of wastewater discharge also affects the efficiency of water resource utilization. The clustering results show that the utilization efficiency of water resources in most provinces of China is located in medium efficiency area and low efficiency area, and the efficiency needs to be improved. There are relatively few provinces in high-efficiency areas, highlighting that China’s water resource utilization still faces severe challenges.