An examination of a partial least squares-based dynamic water quota model for urban industries: a case study of the Wuhan City hospital industry

The establishment of water quotas has an important practical significance in promoting urban standards for water utilization. Currently, industrial water quotas are highly arbitrary, inadequately restrictive, and impractical. This paper considers the example of the Wuhan City hospital industry. Common factors of industrial water use and major differences in water utilization structures were considered, and the principles of partial least squares (PLS) analysis were applied to establish an evaluation model for water utilization levels in this industry. Residuals were used to introduce the corresponding adjustment coefficients, and a dynamic model of water quotas in the hospital industry was constructed. Experimental results revealed that for this dynamic model, 80% of the samples examined exhibited errors of |20%| or less; thus, the dynamic approach was superior to traditional approaches for quota determination, where only 40% of samples had errors of |20%| or less.