Provincial water footprint in China and its critical path

Abstract The key path analysis of water footprint (WF) is essential to formulate water-saving plans, and improve the related allocation of resources. Based on the inter-provincial input-output table in 2012, this study constructs a WF estimation model and a structural path analysis model. Specifically, we estimate the WF of each Chinese province, and identify the complete industry path of this WF. The results show that coastal provinces, such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong, exhibit a higher number of WFs, while economically less-developed provinces, such as Tibet and Qinghai, have lower WFs. The WFs of provinces characterized by water scarcity, such as Beijing and Tianjin, are mainly composed of external water footprints (EWFs), primarily from Hebei, Xinjiang, and Heilongjiang, while the WFs of water-rich provinces, such as Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Sichuan, mainly consist of internal water footprints (IWFs). Except for the provinces of Tibet and Qinghai, the amount of water consumed per household is the most important part of the WF. The inner-province industrial path of Agriculture → Household is the most crucial path of all provinces’ WFs, except for Shanghai and Chongqing. This path contributes more than 20% to the WF of most provinces with larger IWFs, but has less impact on Beijing and Tianjin, with larger EWFs. The inner-province industrial paths of Agriculture → Food and beverage sector → Household, Agriculture → Investment, and Steam and hot water supply sector → Household are the main paths of most provinces’ WFs. A similar result is obtained for the inter-provincial industrial path of some provinces’ WFs. For provinces with larger IWFs, such as Xinjiang and Heilongjiang, there is no inter-provincial industrial path that contributes more than 0.5% to the WF.