Convergence and influencing factors of urban domestic water consumption in the Yangtze River Delta under urbanization

ABSTRACT This study employs panel data from 41 cities from 2010 to 2019 in the Yangtze River Delta. The entropy weight method is used to calculate the urbanization level. Then, the convergence, panel spatial econometric, and threshold regression models are adopted to examine the convergence and to identify the factors affecting water consumption. The following conclusions may be drawn: Spatial differences in the level of domestic water consumption show a trend of gradual reduction over time; there exists mutual influence of neighboring cities; urbanization positively affects domestic water consumption significantly; the spatial spillover effect of urbanization on domestic water consumption is significantly negative; the promotion effect of urbanization on domestic water consumption is nonlinear, and the promotion effect increases with the increase of the proportion of domestic water and the proportion of public service water. Then, targeted countermeasures are brought forward.