The Temporal Evolution of Physical Water Consumption and Virtual Water Flow in Beijing, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

As the political, economic and cultural center of China, Beijing suffers from severe water scarcity, which seriously restricts the local sustainable development. On the basis of clarifying the water consumption structure in Beijing, this paper analyzed the characteristics of local physical water consumption and virtual water flow, furthermore, evaluated the local water resources pressure and put forward measures to ensure water security. Generally, this manuscript has abundant content, clear thinking and detailed in description. However, this paper still has several problems that need to be further demonstrated.

(1) Line 31 indicates that the main purpose of this paper is to calculate water resources pressure and propose water strategies. This description is inconsistent with the main content of the article, and it is suggested to modify it.

(2) The statement in lines 33-34 is consistent with the change trend of physical water consumption of 9 departments in Beijing in lines 272-273 of part 4.1, but conflicts with the total physical water consumption of Beijing in lines 227-229 of part 4.1. What is the difference between the two results? Which result does this paper mainly want to express?

(3) Lines 57-58, 71 and 81 refer to "the external water footprint" and "water footprint". However, the results of the article mainly analyze the virtual water, without mentioning the water footprint. It is meaningless to mix the concept of water footprint, so it is suggested to modify it.

(4) In line 69, the sudden change from physical water engineering to the concept of "virtual water" is unnatural, and it is suggested to modify it.

(5) Lines 105 and 136 refer to "by constructing an input output table" and "input output table" respectively, and it is suggested to modify them to "by constructing input output tables" and "input output tables".

(6) Line 251, it is suggested to change "generally speaking" to "generally".

(7) Line 319, "it" refers to which department or industry is not clearly described.

(8) The description in line 346 of part 4.3 is inaccurate, and it is suggested to change it to “which means that the water resources shortage had been prodigious ameliorated”.

(9) In line 386-388 of Part 5.2, the concept of "Inter-regional joint production" is mentioned. As for the explanation of the new concept in this paper, it is suggested to provide corresponding literature support

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript ‘The temporal evolution of physical water consumption and virtual water flow in Beijing, China’ needs revision.

 

 Highlights should be removed from the manuscript.

 

Abstract

Line 20:  …. of socio-economic ……  of the socio-economic

Line 22: ……posing great impact ……posing a great impact

Edit Abstract grammar mistake.

 

 

Introduction

References must be numbered in order of appearance for all references where available.

 

Material and method

Add this part to the manuscript and subdivision: Study area, Methods, and data

 

Lines 206-208: re-write this sentence.

Line 378: it is better to improve the discussion part.

 

References

Add number based on journal template. Change the reference style based on journal format.

 

 

 

Author Response

We are greatly grateful for your valuable and constructive comments. In this version, we carefully checked the manuscript again and amended some statements.

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have done well with the revisions. The article quality has improved. I think the paper can be accepted for publication.

Reviewer 2 Report

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