Analysis on the Driving Force of Water Resources and Environment Impact Based on STIRPAT Model: A Case Study on Qingyuan County of Fushun City

Water resource and environment is essential for life. At the beginning of the 21st century, the earth has been subjected to extreme human pressure in the form of extensive regulation, human occupation, abuses and pollution, facing water resource crisis and environment deterioration. Water resource and environment have been involved in the vital parts of political, economic and social strategies in China, especially for China's agriculture. In this paper, a typical agricultural county of Qingyuan in Fushun City is selected as a study site. Based on the dataset of water resource, environment and economy from 1990 to 2010, the STIRPAT model, a statistical tool for assessing environmental impacts, is introduced to estimate the impact of human factors on water resources and environment, including population, GDP per capita, technological development (urbanization and industrialization level). The elasticity coefficient is adopted to reveal the relationship between economic growth and the tension of water resources and environment. The result shows that the influence of human social activities on water resources and environment is the multi-factor consequence. Meanwhile, the similar Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) describing the relationship between economic growth and resources-environment pressure is produced. Based on the above, several suggestions are proposed in order to mitigate the pressure of resources and environment in this research.