Sustainable utilization of regional water resources: experiences from the Hai Hua ecological industry pilot zone (HHEIPZ) project in China

Water resource scarcity is becoming more and more serious and greatly restricts sustainable development in many locations. In this paper, the characteristics and implementation of a regional water resource sustainable utilization project in the Hai Hua Ecological Industry Pilot Zone (HHEIPZ) are described. In the project, a three-level water cycle pattern was built to relieve local water resource scarcity. The project was designed to suit the local context and operated at the individual firm level, the inter-firm level, and the regional level. The results show that the three-level water cycle was effective and provided sufficient and continuous water supply for sustainable local development. This paper also analyzes the main responsibility, impetus, and interrelation of the three cycles and gives some suggestions on how to further promote implementation of the three-level water cycle.