Study of Water Resource Allocation and Optimization Considering Reclaimed Water in a Typical Chinese City

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In its current form, the article is unacceptable for publication. Major parts need improvement. I hope that my comments will help to improve your work.

General thoughts

1.      There is no clearly defined purpose for the conducted simulations. At the end of the introduction section, it is necessary to add the purpose of the article.

2.      Simulation parameters are not specified exactly. Data for which there is no literature reference were used. This section needs to be completed.

3.      The axis caption is missing in the presented graphs.

4.      In section 4.2. analysis and discussion are written. There are no references or comparisons to other results, and the analyzes are described in a few sentences. This part needs major improvement.

 

Detailed notes

line 49. add a dot after the abbreviation etc

line 97. the sentence is written in colloquial English and needs to be changed to scientific language

line 101 between the numerical values and the unit should be a space

line 151. It would make more sense to include the units in the formula as well

Fig.3. There is no data source from which the charts were made.

Line 189. Maybe it's worth converting these profits into a unit more accessible to a wider audience, eg dollars?

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Reclaimed water is an important alternative manner to solve the imbalance problem between supply and demand of the regional water resource, which has been also recognized as an effective tool to improve ecological quality. With the example of Yiwu City, a multi-dimensional synergetic multi-source allocation model has been established for the water supply system, the internal coupling mechanism and multi-dimensional dynamic synergetic relationship of water resource, economy, ecology and environment are investigated. Meanwhile, both the economic and ecological effects of the multiple water resources allocation in Yiwu City has been simulated and analyzed.

1.       The innovation and objectives of the study should be introduced and presented.

2.       In ” 3. Materials and methods”, the processing of testing models should be move to section of results.

3.       The section of 4.2. Analysis and discussion is too simple to confuse. It should be descripted in detail and the readers can make sense.

4.       The border lines of Table 6 and Table 8 have been hidden.

5.       In text, the unit of water is million m3 /a. However, in the table the unit is 108m3. It can be used one of them and make them unity.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The study is about the possibility of the using reclaimed water in China. The optimal allocation of the reclaimed water to different types of fields, including residential, industrial, agricultural and environmental water, is considered. The model is created by introducing ecological, social and financial factors.

Due to the low quality of the purified water from the wastewater treatment plant, the current rate of use of this water is only 11.24%. Further treatment is being carried out to improve water quality and ensure higher consumption of reclaimed water in industrial and agricultural areas of Yiwu City.

Reclaimed water should be used in a dual water supply system (9 WWTPs). This source is fully considered an independent water source for consumers. There are 6 water reservoirs in the city.

90% of precipitation is used for the simulation. Based on the predicted high water demand in 2030, a 90% insurance rate appears unattainable. Controls to reduce water demand must also be established.

In the future, reclaimed water will be a reliable and important source of the water for Yiwu City as an alternative to fresh water in industrial, agricultural and municipal water supplies.

The incorporation of reclaimed water is effective. The water supply capacity of the existing six reservoirs is 135 million m3, while the consumption is 134.6 million m3. The predicted result is 224.6 million m3 in 2030, the total demand for water resources reaches 506.1 million m3 by the end of 2030. Due to the lack of water in the city, the most effective way is to incorporate regenerated water into the system.

If the reclaimed water is not used in the system, the amount of pollutants from point sources in 2030 will increase by 60%. This leads to a serious problem of the aquatic environment. If reclaimed water is used, the amount of pollutants will be reduced by 50% compared to 2020.

In the studied area, the use of reclaimed water in both urban and rural water supply systems is supported.

The topic is very current and progressive.

My note:

 

A study that points out how it is necessary to include regenerated water in water sources, but at the same time it is also necessary to look for solutions to reduce water consumption.

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thanks for the corrections made to the article.

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

Improve language.

Author Response

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