Industrial water use efficiency and influencing factors in Guangdong Province

Water resource shortage restricts sustainable socio-economic development and industrial development in Guangdong Province．To study efficiency of industrial water use and influencing factors is of great significance to alleviate water resource pressure and to achieve sustainable use of water resources．Panel data of 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province from 2011 to 2020 were analyzed with BBC model and data envelopment method．Tobit regression model was used to analyze influencing factors of industrial water use efficiency (IWUE)．It was found that from 2011 to 2020, overall IWUE in Guangdong improved, showing an upward trend from 2011 to 2015 and a slow fluctuating downward trend from 2016 to 2020．Cities with better economies were fund to have relatively high IWUE, while those with lower economy development level had relatively low IWUE．Growth rate of IWUE showed an order of eastern Guangdong > northern Guangdong > western Guangdong > Pearl River Delta region．Differences in the changes of IWUE were confirmed among cities．Technological progress was found to be the main factor to improve IWUE, and scale efficiency greatly affected the rise and fall of IWUE．Level of economic development and industrial structure were significantly positively correlated with IWUE．Reasonable water resources management policies could improve IWUE, while technological innovation factors were negatively correlated to change in IWUE．Technological innovation and water resources management policies had significantly negative effects on industrial water use efficiency．We suggest that priority be given to water conservation, to improve the water resources management system, to increase investment in science and technology, to accelerate industrial transformation, and to improve industrial water use efficiency．