Application of Set Pair Analysis in a Comprehensive Evaluation of Water Resource Assets: A Case Study of Wuhan City, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thanks for the manuscript, which I read with interest. 

Here are some suggestions on how you could improve the paper.

- In the introduction and in the abstract, economic development is directly linked to water scarcity. This should be better explained and spelled out. 

- Also, after the introduction, you need to discuss the other main concept of this article: water scarcity, which is linked to water security of China. You would need to better develop the concept of water scarcity (which is the main issue behind the severe water crisis mentioned several times), explaining how it is constructed, discourses, etc. in a new short section after the introduction. This would allow contextualizing the paper in the relevant literatures. Here are some key articles in the literature of water scarcity: 

1) mention the indicators, and how water scarcity is defined and measures (Falkenmark, and others, and their critics and limits)

2) a discussion of the construction of water scarcity (discourses of water scarcity), based on readings of Lyla Mehta, Gareth Edwards, Jeremy Allouche, and Hussein work on the topic: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X01000870

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/a45442

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901118303137

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20581831.2017.1379493

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02508060.2017.1344817

- I would also suggest adding a brief discussion of SDG 6 and the relevance of global discourses to achieve water security, even if briefly, including its limits and latest critiques: 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-018-0649-z 

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3640

This would allow better contextualizing the paper, and explaining the relevant literature and concepts it uses.

Hope this helps!  

Author Response

Comment 1: Thanks for the manuscript, which I read with interest. Here are some suggestions on how you could improve the paper.

Response: Thanks for your positive comments. Your encouragement will inspire us to move on in this research subject. The suggestions are quite helpful for us to further improve this manuscript. According to your suggestions, we have revised the manuscript point by point as following. Thank you.

 

Comment 2: In the introduction and in the abstract, economic development is directly linked to water scarcity. This should be better explained and spelled out.

Response: Thanks for your key suggestion. According to your suggestion, we have improved the explanation of how water scarcity is caused by economic development in the abstract as following: “With rapid development of economic, China is suffering from a severe water scarcity due to the improper management…” and the introduction “…Water is the basic natural resource for human beings and all living things to survive and develop [1]. With the rapid development of social economy, it occurs where water resources are over-committed [2-4] as well as the massive discharge of industrial, agriculture and domestic sewage, due to the poor management of water resources, leading to a reduction in water quantity and the decline in water quality [5-7]. Then, great attention should be paid to the problem that water resources supply could not meet water demand, resulting in water scarcity. Almost one third of the world’s population is experiencing a severe water scarcity crisis [8, 9]…” Details are shown on Page 1 line 14-15, line 37-44. Thank you.

References:

Liu, C.Y.; Zhang, J.D.; Li, F, et al. Trace elements spatial distribution characteristics, risk assessment and potential source identification in surface water from Honghu Lake, China. Journal of Central South University. 2018, 25(7): 1598-1611. Kan, H.D.; Chen, R.J.; Tong, S.L. Ambient air pollution, climate change, and population health in China. Environ Int 2012, 42, 10-19. Zhang, J.D.; Li, Y. N.; Liu, C. Y.; Li, F.; Zhu, L. Y.; Qiu, Z, Z.; Xiao, M. S.; Yang, Z. F.; Cai, Y. Concentration Levels, Biological Enrichment Capacities and Potential Health Risk Assessment of Trace Elements in Eichhornia crassipes from Honghu Lake, China. Scientific Reports. 2019, 9(1):2431. Watkins, K. Human Development Report 2006-Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. UNDP Human Development Reports, 2006. Hambira, W.L. Natural resources accounting: A tool for water resources management in Botswana. Phys Chem Earth 2007, 32, (15-18), 1310-1314. Feng, Z.M., Yang, Y.Z., Li, P. From Natural Resources Accounting to Balance-sheet of Natural Resources Asset Compilation. Journal of Chinese Academy of Science. 2014, (4), 449-456. (In Chinese) Gain, A.K.; Giupponi, C. A dynamic assessment of water scarcity risk in the Lower Brahmaputra River Basin: An integrated approach[J]. Ecological indicators, 2015, 48: 120-131. Mekonnen, M.M.; Hoekstra, A.Y. Four billion people facing severe water scarcity. Science Advances, 2016, 2, (2), e1500323-e1500323. Pahl-Wostl, C.; Craps, M.; Dewulf, A.; Mostert, E.; Tabara, D.; Taillieu, T. Social learning and water resources management. Ecol Soc 2007, 12, (2), 19.

 

 Comment 3: Also, after the introduction, you need to discuss the other main concept of this article: water scarcity, which is linked to water security of China. You would need to better develop the concept of water scarcity (which is the main issue behind the severe water crisis mentioned several times), explaining how it is constructed, discourses, etc. in a new short section after the introduction. This would allow contextualizing the paper in the relevant literatures. Here are some key articles in the literature of water scarcity: 

1) mention the indicators, and how water scarcity is defined and measures (Falkenmark, and others, and their critics and limits)

2) a discussion of the construction of water scarcity (discourses of water scarcity), based on readings of Lyla Mehta, Gareth Edwards, Jeremy Allouche, and Hussein work on the topic: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X01000870

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/a45442

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901118303137

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20581831.2017.1379493

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02508060.2017.1344817

Response: Thanks for your key suggestion. We have carefully read your mentioned references which are very helpful for us to discuss the main concept of water scarcity. According to your suggestion, we have discussed the main concept of water scarcity as following: “…In fact, water scarcity, linked to water security, is a complex phenomenon that could be solved from social, political, meteorological, economic and environmental perspectives [1-4]. Most of the researches were mainly done with engineering measures, which implied that using economic valuation techniques provides a new perspective for water resources management [5].…” Details are shown on Page 2 line 52-56.

Furthermore, according to your suggestion, we have better developed the concept of water scarcity from following aspects in a new short section, Paragraph 2 in the introduction part. First of all, the information about the indicators, and how water scarcity is defined and measures was added as following: “Water scarcity the supply of fresh water cannot meet the demand [6]. It could result from two mechanisms, physical water scarcity, which are due to insufficient natural water resources to meet the needs of a region, and economic water scarcity, caused by poor management [7, 8]. It is found the latter more often leads to water scarcity according to United Nations Development Programme [9].” Details are shown on Page 2 line 47-50.

Moreover, a discussion of the construction of water scarcity was added based on the five important references you recommended and some related researches in order to support our viewpoint well as following “With the rapid development of social economy, it occurs where water resources are over-committed [9-11] as well as the massive discharge of industrial, agriculture and domestic sewage, due to the poor management of water resources, leading to a reduction in water quantity and the decline in water quality [12-14]…” and “…People tend to turn their attention to water scarcity caused by natural forces rather than to human-induced or any other factors [15, 16]. Real reasons of water scarcity could be covered up. In fact, water scarcity, linked to water security, is a complex phenomenon that could be solved from social, political, meteorological, economic and environmental perspectives [1-4]. Most of the researches were mainly done with engineering measures, which implied that using economic valuation techniques provides a new perspective for water resources management [5]…” Details are shown in the section of introduction, Page 1 line 38-41, Page 2 line 51-56. Thanks for your nice suggestion.

References:

Hussein, H. Whose ‘reality’? Discourses and hydropolitics along the Yarmouk River. Contemporary Levant 2017, 2, (2), 103-115. Hussein, H. Politics of the Dead Sea Canal: a historical review of the evolving discourses, interests, and plans. Water International 2017, 42, (5), 527-542. Falkenmark, M.; Lundqvist, J.; Widstrand, C. Implications of biomass strategy for communities and policies. Int J Water Resour D 1990, 6, (1), 29-43. Hussein, H. An analysis of the framings of water scarcity in the Jordanian national water strategy. Water International 2019, 44, (1), 6-13. Kanakoudis, V.; Tsitsifli, S.; Papadopoulou, A. Integrating the Carbon and Water Footprints' Costs in the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC Full Water Cost Recovery Concept: Basic Principles Towards Their Reliable Calculation and Socially Just Allocation. Water-Sui 2012, 4, (1), 45-62. Jordan, S.J.; Hayes, S.E.; Yoskowitz, D.; Smith, L.M.; Summers, J.K.; Russell, M.; Benson, W. H. Accounting for Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability: Linking Ecosystem Services to Human Well-Being. Environ Sci Technol 2010, 44, (5), 1530-1536. Hussein, H. Lifting the veil: Unpacking the discourse of water scarcity in Jordan. Environmental Science & Policy 2018, 89, 385-392. Edwards, G.A.S. Shifting Constructions of Scarcity and the Neoliberalization of Australian Water Governance. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 2013, 45, (8), 1873-1890. Watkins, K. Human Development Report 2006-Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. UNDP Human Development Reports, 2006. Kan, H.D.; Chen, R.J.; Tong, S.L. Ambient air pollution, climate change, and population health in China. Environ Int 2012, 42, 10-19. Zhang, J.D.; Li, Y. N.; Liu, C. Y.; Li, F.; Zhu, L. Y.; Qiu, Z, Z.; Xiao, M. S.; Yang, Z. F.; Cai, Y. Concentration Levels, Biological Enrichment Capacities and Potential Health Risk Assessment of Trace Elements in Eichhornia crassipes from Honghu Lake, China. Scientific Reports. 2019, 9(1):2431. Hambira, W.L. Natural resources accounting: A tool for water resources management in Botswana. Phys Chem Earth 2007, 32, (15-18), 1310-1314. Feng, Z.M., Yang, Y.Z., Li, P. From Natural Resources Accounting to Balance-sheet of Natural Resources Asset Compilation. Journal of Chinese Academy of Science. 2014, (4), 449-456. (In Chinese) Gain, A.K.; Giupponi, C. A dynamic assessment of water scarcity risk in the Lower Brahmaputra River Basin: An integrated approach[J]. Ecological indicators, 2015, 48: 120-131. Falkenmark, M. Middle East Hydropolitics: Water Scarcity and Conflicts in the Middle East. AMBIO A Journal of the Human Environment, 1989, 18, (6), 350-352. Mehta, L. The Manufacture of Popular Perceptions of Scarcity: Dams and Water-Related Narratives in Gujarat, India. World Development 2001, 29, (12), 2025-2041.

 

Comment 4: I would also suggest adding a brief discussion of SDG 6 and the relevance of global discourses to achieve water security, even if briefly, including its limits and latest critiques: 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-018-0649-z 

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3640

This would allow better contextualizing the paper, and explaining the relevant literature and concepts it uses.

Hope this helps!  

Response: Thanks for your important suggestion. According to your suggestion, we have carefully read your mentioned references which are very helpful for us to better contextualizing the paper, and added a brief discussion of SDG 6 and relevance of global discourses to achieve water security, including its limits and latest critiques in the Discussions part as following: “…From a global perspective, in order to alleviate the scarcity of water, sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), set by the United Nations in 2015, focused on water security and sanitation for all people [1, 2]. The goal contains eight targets, with one or more indicators for each of them, to be achieved by 2030 [3]. It provides a support for the process of implementation of integrated water resources management [4], whereas there is still need for improvement [5]. For example, the gap between targets in SDG 6 and corresponding indicators [1] as well as inequitable water agreements [6]. Utilizing economic valuation techniques could provide a new perspective for water resources management [7]…” Details are shown on Page 11 Line 333-340. Thanks for your important suggestion.

References:

Guppy, L.; Mehta, P.; Qadir, M. Sustainable development goal 6: two gaps in the race for indicators. Sustain Sci 2019, 14, (2), 501-513. Vanham, D.; Hoekstra, A.Y.; Wada, Y.; Bouraoui, F.; de Roo, A.; Mekonnen, M.M.; van de Bund, W.J.; Batelaan, O.; Pavelic, P.; Bastiaanssen, W.G.M.; Kummu, M.; Rockstrom, J.; Liu, J.; Bisselink, B.; Ronco, P.; Pistocchi, A.; Bidoglio, G. Physical water scarcity metrics for monitoring progress towards SDG target 6.4: An evaluation of indicator 6.4.2 "Level of water stress". Sci Total Environ 2018, 613-614, 218-232. Nhamo, G.; Nhemachena, C.; Nhamo, S. Is 2030 too soon for Africa to achieve the water and sanitation sustainable development goal? Sci Total Environ 2019, 669, 129-139. Bertule, M.; Glennie, P.; Bjørnsen, P.K.; Lloyd, G.J.; Kjellen, M.; Dalton, J.; Rieu-Clarke, A.; Romano, O.; Tropp, H.; Newton, J.; Harlin, J. Monitoring Water Resources Governance Progress Globally: Experiences from Monitoring SDG Indicator 6.5.1 on Integrated Water Resources Management Implementation. Water-Sui 2018, 10, (12). Hering, J. Managing the ‘Monitoring Imperative’ in the Context of SDG Target 6.3 on Water Quality and Wastewater. Sustainability-Basel 2017, 9, (9). Hussein, H.; Menga, F.; Greco, F. Monitoring Transboundary Water Cooperation in SDG 6.5.2: How a Critical Hydropolitics Approach Can Spot Inequitable Outcomes. Sustainability-Basel 2018, 10, (10).

 7.    Kanakoudis, V.; Tsitsifli, S.; Papadopoulou, A. Integrating the Carbon      and Water Footprints' Costs in the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC Full Water Cost Recovery Concept: Basic Principles Towards Their Reliable Calculation and Socially Just Allocation. Water-Sui 2012, 4, (1), 45-62.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

1- Plagiarism is high over 20% the work need to restructured.

2- Recommend to add the elevation and topographic information for the study area.

3- Need to add paragraph for the 2.2 Principle and Application of Set Pair Analysis ,it is improper to keep title without basic discerption. 

4- The author/s is not justified why they used SPA Mathematic Model? What is the characteristic of this model and what could do and no other models doing.

5- Unfortunately the author/s is not considered the Groundwater as a factor that playing a significant role on the model , it is highly recommended to add the information for the groundwater to the region of interest and consider it into the model as significant factor.

6- Additional information and statistics of the agriculture in the region if any, which kind of crops are used to cultivate and the wight of surface water and groundwater consumption 

 

Author Response

Comment 1: Plagiarism is high over 20% the work need to restructured.

Response: Thanks for your suggestion. First of all, this exploration study is of importance innovation due to the following two reasons:

(1) The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2013 made a decision to establish a system if lifelong accountability for ecological and environmental damage [1], and then, the report on 19^th National Congress clearly stated to establish a state-owned natural resource assets accounting [2], which emphasized the importance of region natural resource assets accounting. Many provincial capital cities, such as Jinan [3] and Nanjing [4], have successively carried out regional water resources asset evaluation to regulate regional development. Wuhan City proposed to carry out research on natural resource asset management in 2016 and improve the system of paid use of resources [5]. But there are few of them exploring how to comprehensively evaluate the water resource assets value of Wuhan City. We cooperated with Wuhan Municipal Development and Reform Commission regarding the research of water resource accounting. In this present manuscript, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was chosen to conduct an evaluation system for water resource assets based on these existing backgrounds.

(2) Different from many previous studies, set pair analysis (SPA) was applied to conduct the water resources evaluation, which could calculate the price of water resources more objectively and comprehensively, with taking full advantage of the information of water resources value evaluation system [6]. Also, James Pollution Loss Model was used to calculate the loss of water resources value caused by the decline of water quality in water pollution environment, which improve the reliability of the accounting results.

Therefore, for the reasons above, to our best knowledge, this manuscript could provide a useful, practical support to all researchers and decision-makers dealing with the same issues.

Furthermore, we attached great importance to your suggestion. Indeed, we agree with you many parts of this article needed to be improved. According to your comments, we have checked the whole manuscript and revised many parts, especially for abstract, introduction and discussion. A native English-speaking professor in our study field was invited to polish the entire manuscript. Finally, we have sent the revised manuscript to for an iThenticate Plagiarism Check. The detailed report is shown below (Figure 1). Hope to get your understanding. Thank you.

Figure 1. The iThenticate Plagiarism Check report

References:

Party C.C. Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Available online: http://www.china.org.cn/china/third$_-$plenary$_-$session/2014-01/16/content$_-$31212602. htm (accessed on 12 November 2013). Party C.C. A decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects to win a great victory for socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Available online: cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2017/1028/c64094-29613660.html (accessed on 18 October 2017). Yang, Y.H.; Liu, Y.; Cao, S.L.; Cheng, Y.F. A Method of Evaluating Water Resource Assets and Liabilities: A Case Study of Jinan City, Shandong Province. Water 2017, 9, (8). Jia, Y.Z.; Shen, J.Q.; Wang, H. Calculation of Water Resource Value in Nanjing Based on a Fuzzy Mathematical Model. Water-Sui 2018, 10, (7). Available online: http://www.wuhaneca.org/view.php?id=65848 (accessed on 22 November 2016). Yu, F.R.; Qu, J.H.; Li, Z.P.; Gao, Z.P. Application of set pair analysis based on the improved five-element connectivity in the evaluation of groundwater quality in XuChang, Henan Province, China. Water Sci Tech-W Sup 2017, 17, (3), 632-642.

 

Comment 2: Recommend to add the elevation and topographic information for the study area.

Response: Thanks for your kind suggestion. According to your suggestion, we have added the elevation and topographic information for the study area as following “The elevation of Wuhan City ranges from 19.2 m to 873.7 m, mostly below 50 m. It is low and flat in the middle, surrounded by hills and ridges in the north and south, and low mountains in the north, with the Yangtze and Han rivers winding through the city [1]”. Details were shown on Page 2, line 91-94. Thank you.

References:

Available online: http://www.wuhan.gov.cn/ (accessed on 30 July 2019).

 

Comment 3: Need to add paragraph for the 2.2 Principle and Application of Set Pair Analysis, it is improper to keep title without basic discerption. 

Response: Thanks for your important suggestion. We can’t agree with you more that it is improper to keep the title without basic discerption. According to your suggestion, we have added a paragraph for the 2.2 Principle an Application of Set Pair Analysis as following “SPA is a scientific theory dealing with the interaction between certainty and uncertainty [1]. The core idea is to construct pairs of two related sets of uncertain systems, and then analyze characteristics such as same, difference, and opposition of set pairs, finally, establish the connection degree of same, difference and opposition of the pair [2]. With the application of connection degree, it transformed the dialectical understanding of uncertainty into a specific mathematical problem, enhanced a higher reliability and objectivity [3]. First of all, SPA qualitatively analyses samples according to a certainty and uncertainty analysis between the water resources assets evaluation system and related factors, and then quantitatively calculated the value of water resources assets, so as to better realize the water resources assets evaluation”. Details were shown on Page 3 line 106-114. Thank you.

References:

Zhao, K.Q. Study on set pair analysis and entropy. Journal of Zhejiang University: Social Science Edition, 1992, (2), 68-75. (In Chinese) Yu, F.R.; Qu, J.H.; Li, Z.P.; Gao, Z.P. Application of set pair analysis based on the improved five-element connectivity in the evaluation of groundwater quality in XuChang, Henan Province, China. Water Sci Tech-W Sup 2017, 17, (3), 632-642. Dong, G.H.; Shen, J.Q.; Jia, Y.Z.; Sun, F.H. Comprehensive Evaluation of Water Resource Security: Case Study from Luoyang City, China. Water 2018, 10, (8).

 

Comment 4: The author/s is not justified why they used SPA Mathematic Model? What is the characteristic of this model and what could do and no other models doing.

Response: Thanks for your key suggestion. According to your suggestion, we have added a justification why SPA Mathematic Model was used in this study, including the characteristic of this model and what it could do while other models could not and rewritten many sentences as following: “At present, the method to evaluate value of water resources is mainly carried out from following aspects, namely certainty and uncertainty. The former is about traditional deterministic evaluation method including shadow price method, supply and demand pricing model, income reduction method, marginal opportunity cost method and CGE model [1-6]. However, water resources value system is a complex system. Traditional classical algorithms reflected the economic value of water resources to a certain extent, but they could not solve the complicacy and fuzziness of water resources value system [7]. Uncertainty evaluation method, mainly based on fuzzy theory, might also result in information loss [8, 9]. Set pair analysis (SPA), dealing with the interaction between certainty and uncertainty, is suitable for cases with two or more groups from two or more perspectives [10]. To evaluate it objectively and truly, we need to recognize its internal structure and take social, economic and environmental factors into consideration [11]. For this reason, SPA is a systematic method to deal with the uncertainty of complex problems [12, 13] and has been gradually utilized to the comprehensive evaluation of water quality and water safety [14, 15]…”. Details are shown on Page 2 line 61-73.

Moreover, according to your suggestion, we have add a discussion as following: “Set Pair Analysis, a new uncertainty theory, is different from traditional probability and fuzzy set theory. This method take full advantage of the information of water resources value evaluation system, so that we could calculate the price of water resources more objectively and comprehensively. Meanwhile, the coupling model with set pair analysis and triangular fuzzy number was used to obtain the fuzzy comprehensive index of water resources value. The results showed that the overall level of water resources value in Wuhan City was medium to low…” Details are shown on Page 12 line 350-355. Thanks for your nice suggestion. 

References:

Zhou, Q.; Hanasaki, N.; Fujimori, S. Economic Consequences of Cooling Water Insufficiency in the Thermal Power Sector under Climate Change Scenarios. Energies 2018, 11, (10). Liu, Y.; Hu, X.H.; Zhang, Q.; Zheng, M.B. Improving Agricultural Water Use Efficiency: A Quantitative Study of Zhangye City Using the Static CGE Model with a CES Water-Land Resources Account. Sustainability-Basel 2017, 9, (2). Li, Y.L.; Deng, H.B.; Dong, R.C. Prioritizing protection measures through ecosystem services valuation for the Napahai Wetland, Shangri-La County, Yunnan Province, China. Int J Sust Dev World 2015, 22, (2), 142-150. Zhang, N.; Li, Y.P.; Huang, W.W.; Liu, J. An Inexact Two-Stage Water Quality Management Model for Supporting Sustainable Development in a Rural System. J. Environ. Inform. 2014, 24, (1), 52-64. Weinzettel, J.; Pfister, S. International trade of global scarce water use in agriculture: Modeling on watershed level with monthly resolution. Ecol Econ 2019, 159, 301-311. Foster, T.; Brozovic, N. Simulating Crop-Water Production Functions Using Crop Growth Models to Support Water Policy Assessments. Ecol Econ 2018, 152, 9-21. Li, Z.Q.; Zhou, B.H.; Teng, D.B.; Yang, W.M.; Qiu, D.H. Comprehensive evaluation method of groundwater environment in a mining area based on fuzzy set theory. Geosystem Eng 2018, 21, (2), 103-112. Zhao, K.Q. Set Pair Analysis and its Preliminary. Journal of Nature Exploration: 1994, (1), 67-72. (In Chinese) Yu, F.R.; Qu, J.H.; Li, Z.P.; Gao, Z.P. Application of set pair analysis based on the improved five-element connectivity in the evaluation of groundwater quality in XuChang, Henan Province, China. Water Sci Tech-W Sup 2017, 17, (3), 632-642. Jing, J.; Qian, H.; Chen, Y.F.; Xi, W.J. Assessment of Groundwater Quality Based on Matter Element Extension Model. J. Chem. 2012, 7. Jia, Y.Z.; Shen, J.Q.; Wang, H. Calculation of Water Resource Value in Nanjing Based on a Fuzzy Mathematical Model. Water-Sui 2018, 10, (7). Zhao, K.Q. The application of SPA-based identical-discrepancy-contrary system theory in artificial intelligence research.Transactions on Intelligent System. 2007, (5), 20-35. (In Chinese) Feng, L.H.; Sang, G.S.; Hong, W.H. Statistical Prediction of Changes in Water Resources Trends Based on Set Pair Analysis. Water Resour Manag 2014, 28, (6), 1703-1711. Gao, S.D., Fang, D.X., Pan, Z.W. Research on comprehensive index assessment model of river water quality based on set pair analysis theory. Journal of Hefei University of Technology. 2015, (5), 654-658. (In Chinese) Wang, H.Z., Duan, Y.Y., Fu, C. Water Security Evaluation of Anhui Province Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process. South-to-North Water Transfers and Water Science & Technology. 2014, (1), 37-41. (In Chinese)

 

Comment 5: Unfortunately the author/s is not considered the Groundwater as a factor that playing a significant role on the model, it is highly recommended to add the information for the groundwater to the region of interest and consider it into the model as significant factor.

Response: Thanks for your key suggestion. Firstly, in this manuscript, the total amount of water resources (as shown in Table 1, Year-end stock) was chosen to evaluate the total value of regional water resource. The total amount of water resources refers to the amount of surface and groundwater, which is not equal to the simple addition of surface water and groundwater resources, and the repeated amount of the two should be deducted [1]. Frankly, we can’t agree with you more that groundwater is a factor that playing a significant role on the model. Certainly, we have investigated and analyzed both of the groundwater and surface water respectively, instead of ignoring either of them. To our best knowledge, it’s reasonable to make a regional asset evaluation based on the whole water resource. Furthermore, the whole water resource and the related factors are used in many papers regarding water resource assets accounting [1-3] instead of considering groundwater separately. For the above reasons, this study did not take groundwater into account as an independent factor.

Indeed, this is only a preliminary exploration of water resources asset accounting in Wuhan City. According to your suggestion, we added a discussion as following: “

Also, the total amount of water resources and related factors that are chosen to evaluate the value of water resources would be improved. Previous study has shown that groundwater is seriously polluted in the densely populated industrial and commercial areas of Wuhan City [4]. In the future, it is of great significant to conduct more detailed and accurate researches in order to provide a practical support to decision-makers and regional managers, for example, taking groundwater as an independent and significant factor into the model…”. Details are shown on Page 12 Line 364-369. Hope to get your understanding.

References:

Yang, Y.H.; Liu, Y.; Cao, S.L.; Cheng, Y.F. A Method of Evaluating Water Resource Assets and Liabilities: A Case Study of Jinan City, Shandong Province. Water 2017, 9, (8). Jian, F.H., Song, X.Y., Yu, W.B. Construction of the evaluation system of water asset price with fuzzy comprehensive assessment indexes: taking Zhangye Prefecture in Heihe River basin as an example. Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology, 2016, 38(2), 567-572. (In Chinese) Li, J.; Min, Q. W.; Li, W.H.; Bai, Y.Y.; Yang, L.; Bijaya, G.C.D. Evaluation of water resources conserved by forests in the Hani rice terraces system of Honghe County, Yunnan, China: an application of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model. J Mt. Sci. 2016, 13, (4), 744-753. Wang, Y.; Merkel, B.J.; Li, Y.; Ye, H.; Fu, S.; Ihm, D. Vulnerability of groundwater in Quaternary aquifers to organic contaminants: a case study in Wuhan City, China. Environmental Geology 2007, 53, (3), 479-484.

 

Comment 6: Additional information and statistics of the agriculture in the region if any, which kind of crops are used to cultivate and the wight of surface water and groundwater consumption.

Response: Thanks for your important suggestion. According to your suggestion, we have carefully found the additional information and statistics of the agriculture in the region regarding kind of crops are used to cultivate and the weight of surface water and groundwater consumption, but it’s difficult for us to get it even from kinds of official statistics, existing researches or investigation, etc. In the present study, Agricultural irrigation water utilization factor N15 (as shown in Table 2) was selected to reflect the information and statistics of the agriculture in Wuhan City. Agricultural irrigation water utilization factor, the ratio of the amount of net water utilized by crops to the total amount of water introduced at the head of the water resource canal, is an important index to measure to evaluate the utilization of agricultural water resources [1]. It was widely used in the researches regarding water resources assets evaluation [2-3]. For the reasons above, to our best knowledge, it is appropriate to select Agricultural irrigation water utilization factor to reflect the agriculture information in Wuhan City.

Frankly, this study is an exploring of water resources assets evaluation to provide a support to decision-makers dealing with the same issues. Indeed, we can’t agree with you more that it would be better if there is more information about kind of crops are used to cultivate and the weight of surface water and groundwater consumption. Wuhan City, located in Jianghan Plain, is rich in kinds of crops [4]. It is of importance to carry out more detailed and in-depth researches based on additional information and statistics of the agriculture in the region regarding kind of crops are used to cultivate and the weight of surface water and groundwater consumption. According to your suggestion, we added a discussion as following: “…In the future, it is of great significant to conduct more detailed and accurate researches in order to provide a practical support to decision-makers and regional managers, for example,…, or even conducting more detailed and in-depth researches with more agriculture information regarding kind of crops that are used to cultivate, the weight of surface water and groundwater consumption as well.”. Details are shown on Page 13 Line 367-371. Hope to get your understanding. Thank you.

References:

Hussein, H.; Menga, F.; Greco, F., Monitoring Transboundary Water Cooperation in SDG 6.5.2: How a Critical Hydropolitics Approach Can Spot Inequitable Outcomes. Sustainability-Basel 2018, 10, (10). Yang, Y.H.; Liu, Y.; Cao, S.L.; Cheng, Y.F. A Method of Evaluating Water Resource Assets and Liabilities: A Case Study of Jinan City, Shandong Province. Water 2017, 9, (8). Jian, F.H., Song, X.Y., Yu, W.B. Construction of the evaluation system of water asset price with fuzzy comprehensive assessment indexes: taking Zhangye Prefecture in Heihe River basin as an example. Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology, 2016, 38(2), 567-572. (In Chinese) Aziz, O.; Hussain, S.; Rizwan, M.; Riaz, M.; Bashir, S.; Lin, L.R.; Mehmood, S.; Imran, M.; Yaseen, R.; Lu, G.A., Increasing water productivity, nitrogen economy, and grain yield of rice by water saving irrigation and fertilizer-N management. Environ Sci Pollut R 2018, 25, (17), 16601-16615.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thanks for this revised version. I can see that the manuscript is now better situated in the relevant literature and in the latest academic discussions on the topic. 

Author Response

Comment 1: Thanks for this revised version. I can see that the manuscript is now better situated in the relevant literature and in the latest academic discussions on the topic.

Response: Thanks for your positive comments. Your encouragement will inspire us to move on in this research subject. Thank you.

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Reviewer 2 Report

The author/s has been fulfilled and answer all the comments made in a good manner, therefore there is no comments from my side and i do accept this paper.

Author Response

Comment 1: The author/s has been fulfilled and answer all the comments made in a good manner, therefore there is no comments from my side and i do accept this paper.

Response: Thanks for your positive comments. Your encouragement will inspire us to move on in this research subject. We feel that the manuscript has been greatly improved due to your professional suggestions, and we gain greatly from the process of revising. Thank you again.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx