Industrial structural upgrading and spatial optimization based on water environment carrying capacity

The industrial wastewater accompanying rapid industrialization has caused severe pollution problems, especially in China. Addressing industrial structure upgrading and spatial optimization based on water environment carrying capacity has become an urgent issue. This paper establishes an analytical framework that uses a combination of economic and water environment information for industrial structure upgrading and spatial optimization based on water environment carrying capacity. This framework promotes the practical application of water environment carrying capacity theory for socio-ecological sustainability. The input-output table, information entropy method and a simulation platform of water environment carrying capacity using a multi-agent system are integrated into the analytical framework. A spatial assessment of the water environment carrying capacity, industrial structure upgrading and spatial optimization is performed for Changzhou, China. With the measures implementation of industrial structure upgrading and spatial optimization, the economic scale of the electrical equipment and machinery industry, which is the most important industry in Changzhou City, would reach 126,814.68 billion yuan, nearly 73 times its current value. In addition, the total local industrial economy would reach 3319.81 billion yuan, nearly 1.6 times its current scale. Due to the industrial concentration, the increased economic scale would create additional benefits, including the whole study region reaching the water quality goal and the water quality in urban areas significantly improving. The measures of industrial structure upgrading and spatial optimization would help to achieve a mutually beneficial balance between environmental protection and economic development. The analytical framework establishes the internal link between industrial structure upgrading and spatial optimization based on the water environment carrying capacity. The links from water quality to industrial structure upgrading and spatial optimization are also established. These connections could support the fine-scale management of water environments and could help local governments to plan sustainable socio-ecologic development. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.