Dynamic Measurement of Water Use Level Based on SBM-DEA Model and Its Matching Characteristics with Economic and Social Development: A Case Study of the Yellow River Basin, China

Enhancing the level of water use and alleviating the constraints of water shortage on economic and social development are powerful supports to realize the harmonious balance of water and economic society. In this study, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) window analysis method is applied to the study of water use level, and the SBM-DEA model (slack based measure, SBM) is combined to explore the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of composite water use index (CWUI) in nine provinces from 2012 to 2018. The Malmquist index model is used to decompose the intrinsic causes of total factor productivity (TFP) changes, and the spatial matching degree calculation method is applied to study the matching degree between CWUI and economic and social development levels (E-SDL). The results showed that: (1) the overall trend of CWUI in the nine provinces from 2012 to 2018 was increasing, with significant spatial variability in water use levels; (2) the improvement of TFP of water in the nine provinces was mainly driven by technological change (TC), and the main factor limiting the improvement of TFP of water was technical efficiency change (EC); (3) E-SDL of the nine provinces showed an increasing trend, with the spatial distribution characteristics of decreasing E-SDL of the downstream, midstream and upstream provinces in sequence; (4) the degree of matching between CWUI and E-SDL shows strong regional differences, with different types of matching.