The global water crisis caused by industrialization and urbanization has aggravated the scarcity of groundwater (Braadbaartet al., 1997; Koncaül, 2015). Groundwater overexploitation has thus become a global problem causing environmental issues such as land subsidence and seawater intrusion, among others. Researchers and policy makers have increasingly turned their attention to investigating ways to reduce groundwater overexploitation. Mitigation measures include developing water saving technologies (Hamdyet al., 2003), changing behavioral attitudes towards water conservation (Gilg and Barr, 2006), and instituting water pricing policies (Yang et al., 2003). These approaches have proven effective in terms of improving water resource use efficiency and reducing groundwater exploitation. However, these approaches have not specifically addressed how the distribution of water users may influence water use efficiency.

Recently, landscape fragmentation resulting from urban sprawl has been identified as one of the root causes driving water demand, with a greater impact on water demand than either socioeconomic or environmental drivers (Chang et al., 2010; House Peters and Chang, 2011; Shandas, 2010; Shandas and Parandash, 2010; Sanchezet al., 2018). According to Sanchez et al. (2018), aggregated configurations do show potential for a more efficient use of water. Shandas and Parandvash (2010) found that decreasing the area of single-family residential units in Portland, Oregon, by 100m2 could reduce water demand by 978,000 gallons a year. Smart growth strategies thus need to be implemented in locations with fragmented urban landscapes to address water shortages.

Most previous studies have only examined westernized regions of the world and have focused on residential urban sprawl rather than on the spread of manufacturing industries. Urban sprawl calculations have been based primarily on land-use data, population, or housing units' distribution (Black, 1996; Burchell and Listokin, 1991; Galster et al., 2001). Much less attention has been paid to the impact of urban sprawl in developing countries. This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the world's largest developing country, China.

China's spatial development characteristics differ from those of westernized countries. In China, the fragmentation of suburban manufacturing is more prevalent and widespread than residential urban sprawl (Zhang et al., 2018). However, the impacts of industrial development on resources and the environment are not well understood due to a lack of accurate data on industrial land use in China. To address this lack of data, Zheng et al. (2018) recently constructed a spatial database of the locations of manufacturing facilities using the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database, which can now be used to quantify the extent of fragmentation in the developing manufacturing industry.

This paper aims to explore the associations between fragmented manufacturing development and groundwater withdrawal by quantitatively characterizing the distribution of factories. We first present our methodology, which divides China's Hebei Province into four regions according to a rurality index (RI) and then calculates a factory scatter index (FSI), which is a measure of the degree of scattering of manufacturing plants, for each county. Second, we present the spatial distribution of manufacturing plants and groundwater withdrawal in all districts and counties of Hebei Province and establish the relationship between FSI, groundwater withdrawal, and RI to identify spatial relationships that may exist. Third, we develop a regression model that describes the relationship between FSI and groundwater withdrawal.We conclude with a discussion of our findings and recommended future research. We anticipate that our findings will promote subsequent research on the spatial distribution of manufacturing plants and associated environmental impacts.

该文章以“Does the Geographic Distribution of Manufacturing Plants Exacerbate Groundwater Withdrawal? -A case study of Hebei Province in China”为题，发表在《Journal of Cleaner Production》2019年3月10日第213卷