The assessment of water stress in Minqin County in China with the Water Poverty Index

Water has become an increasingly important issue in the world during the last few years. The paper describes the evaluation of water scarcity in Minqin County in Northwest China. The imbalance of water availability and water demand happened there, and the problems caused by over-using water resources have received increased attention. The Water Poverty Index is applied as a holistic tool to assess water stress at the yearly time scale in the study site. The study presents details of the methodology used, and the results show that water stress in the county has fallen over the past decade and that both Resources and Environment are the critical factors constraining the local water situations.