Evaluation of regional water security using water poverty index

Water security is a widely concerned issue in the world nowadays.A new method,water poverty index(WPI),was applied to evaluate the regional water security.Twelve state farms in Heilongjiang Province,Northeastern China were selected to evaluate water security status based on the data of 2006 using WPI and mean deviation grading method.The method of WPI includes five key indices:resources(R),access(A),capacity(C),utilization(U)and environment(E).Each key index further consists of several sub-indices.According to the results of WPI,the grade of each farm was calculated by using the method of mean deviation grading.Thus,the radar images can be protracted of each farm.From the radar images,the conclusions can be drawn that the WPI values of Farm 853 and Hongqiling are under very safe status,while that of Farm Raohe is under safe status,those of Farms Youyi,597,852,291 and Jiangchuan are under moderate safe status,that of Farm Beixing is under low safe status and those of Farm Shuangyashan,Shuguang and Baoshan are under unsafe status.The results from this study can provide basic information for decision making on rational utilization of water resources and regulations for regional water safety guarantee system.

Rural Income Poverty in Western China Is Water Poverty

Although China has reduced its poor population from 250 million in 1978 to 30 million in 2003, an overall reduction in world poverty still depends on progress being made in China because of its huge population. The concentration of poor in western rural regions makes China＇s task of poverty alleviation complex. Clearer and more transparent analyses on the reasons for poverty are essential prerequisites of any development policy that puts poverty reduction at its heart. The purpose of this paper is to identify causes for being poor in western rural China. It argues that the essence of rural income poverty in the western region is water poverty. Low efficiency of agricultural productivity resulting from poor land quality and uneven distribution of water resources has led to heavy dependence on irrigated agriculture. Irrigated agriculture has played and will play a critical role in creating employment opportunities and alleviating poverty. Existing water shortages and competition for different water utilization make it imperative to enhance the efficiency of water resource management.