Evaluation of Water Resources Utilization Efficiency Based on DEA and AHP under Climate Change

In the context of climate change, the problem of water scarcity is becoming increasingly serious, and improving the efficiency of water resources use is an important measure to alleviate this problem. The evaluation of water resources utilization efficiency has become the basis of water resource management. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are widely used in the evaluation of water resources utilization efficiency. However, one of these methods is mostly used for evaluation, which cannot reflect the influence of both objective and subjective factors. Therefore, in this study, we propose a water resources utilization efficiency index (WEI) to evaluate the water resources utilization efficiency of each region in the Tumen River Basin (TRB), combining both DEA and AHP methods. Firstly, the DEA-CCR model was used to quantify domestic, agricultural and industrial water use efficiency in the TRB. The DEA-BCC model was used to analyze the main influences on water use efficiency in each sector. Secondly, the WEI was constructed by assigning weights using the AHP model based on the importance of each water use sector. The results show that the WEI values for most areas within the TRB trended upwards between 2014 and 2019. In particular, domestic water use efficiency ranged from 0.294 to 0.775, while agricultural and industrial water use efficiency ranged from 0.039 to 0.054 and 0.031 to 0.375, respectively. Technical efficiency is the main factor influencing water use efficiency in TRB. This study could provide a basis for water resource management and mitigation of water scarcity in the context of climate change.

Automated summary

In the context of climate change, improving water resource utilization efficiency is important to alleviate the increasingly serious problem of water scarcity. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are commonly used for evaluating water resource utilization efficiency. However, using only one method cannot consider the influence of both objective and subjective factors. This study proposes a water resources utilization efficiency index (WEI) that combines both DEA and AHP methods to evaluate the water resources utilization efficiency in the Tumen River Basin (TRB). The results show an upward trend in WEI values for most areas in the TRB between 2014 and 2019, indicating improvements in water use efficiency. Technical efficiency is identified as the main factor influencing water use efficiency in the TRB. This study provides a basis for water resource management and mitigation of water scarcity in the context of climate change.