Assessment of Sustainable Water Utilization Based on the Pressure–State–Response Model: A Case Study of the Yellow River Basin in China.

Based on the pressure–state–response (PSR) framework, in this paper, we construct an assessment system for sustainable water utilization (SWU) in 60 prefecture-level cities along the Yellow River Basin. Then, a spatial autocorrelation model is employed to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of SWU. Further, nine related variables are selected to explore the key factors affecting the spatial differentiation of SWU with a geographic detector model. The results are as follows: (1) The overall level of SWU in the Yellow River Basin is not high, and the level of SWU in five cities is much higher than that in other cities. (2) Overall, the SWU shows noticeable spatial autocorrelation characteristics along the Yellow River Basin. Additionally, locally, it shows high–high agglomeration, low–high agglomeration, and low–low agglomeration. (3) The most important factors affecting the spatial differentiation of SWU in the Yellow River Basin are precipitation, population density, and the proportion of tertiary industry in regional GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]