Impact assessment on the economy, society, resource, and environment in the water-receiving cities of the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion

The Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion (MRPSNWD) is a major strategic project to alleviate the serious shortage of water resources in northern China, and it benefited 14 large- and medium-sized cities in Henan, Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin. Most of the predecessors used qualitative analysis to study the impact of the MRPSNWD on the water-receiving cities (WRCs), and they only considered one aspect of economy, society, resources, and environment, which could not fully reflect the impact of the MRPSNWD on the water-receiving cities. Therefore, based on the data of economic and social resources and environment of the water-receiving cities in the MRPSNWD from 2010 to 2019, an evaluation model based on entropy weight–analytic hierarchy process (AHP) fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was constructed to account for the impacts on the economy-society-resources-environment of the water-receiving cities after the operation of the MRPSNWD and scientifically evaluated the comprehensive benefits of the MRPSNWD. The evaluation results revealed that the economic and environmental impacts of the MRPSNWD on the water-receiving cities were more obvious than those on society and resources. As far as water-receiving cities were concerned, the impact of the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion on Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin, and Beijing was generally higher than that of other cities. As far as the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion was concerned, its overall impact on water-receiving cities was relatively slow.