Quantitative Measurement and Dynamic Analysis of Sustainable Utilization of Water Resources in Guilin City

The water resources footprint concept has been developed as an indicator of water use in relation to the consumption of people. The water resources footprint of a city is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the city. Closely linked to the water resources footprint concept is the virtual water concept. Virtual water is defined as the volume of water required to produce a commodity or service. The water resources footprint of a city can be assessed by taking the use of domestic water resources, subtracting the virtual water flow that leaves the city and adding the virtual water flow that enters the city. Based on water resources footprint, water resources utilization was measured quantitatively in Guilin city from 2000 to 2009, and analyzed dynamically on the basis of the evaluation index of water resources scarcity and water resources footprint per ten thousand CNY GDP. We found that the water resources footprint of Guilin in 2009 was 7.826×10 9 m 3 , per capita water resources footprint was 1529.62m 3 , the water resources footprint of entity water consumption was 4.209×10 9 m 3 , the water resources footprint of production water consumption was 2.54×10 9 m 3 , and the water resources footprint of ecological water requirements was 1.077 × 10 9 m 3 . The water resources carrying capacity was 10.548 × 10 9 m 3 , per capita water resources carrying capacity was 2061.65m 3 , the water resources scarcity was 0.74, the water resources footprint per ten thousand CNY GDP was 832.07m 3 . The water resources footprint has been increasing for Guilin city over the past decade, and water resource utilization is more and more close to an unsustainable critical state. Although water resources footprint per ten thousand CNY GDP has been declining steadily in Guilin, compared to other developed domestic areas there is still a large gap.