中国工业水价结构性改革研究：水资源费的视角

水资源费视角下工业水价的结构性调整是实现工业节水和建设节水型社会的重要手段，其调整思路有二：一是改变水资源费标准，二是调整水资源费占终端水价的比重。研究表明，一方面，工业用水中的地下水和地表水存在显著的替代效应，地下水和地表水水资源费对地表水需求的影响较地下水需求更大；另一方面，以地表水水资源费和地下水水资源费代替终端水价中的水资源费所构造起来的水价结构放大了水资源费对工业用水需求的影响，其中，通过减少地下水水资源费占终端水价的比重来减少工业自来水需求的作用最为显著。因此，需要加强工业地表水使用的管理，优先通过提高地表水水资源费或降低地下水水资源费占终端水价的比重等结构性改革举措实现工业节水目标。

Structural Rectification of Industrial Water Rate in China: A Perspective of Water Resource Fee

In China, the three main sources of industrial water are surface water, ground water, and tap water, and the consumption of surface water dominates. The consumption of industrial water by state-owned and large non-state enterprises accounted for 70.18% in 2008. There are varying water rates for surface water, ground water, and tap water. The price for tap water, which consists of resource fee and project and environmental charges, has a significant impact on the demand of tap water while the surface and ground water demands are mainly determined by the resource fee. Thus, rectifying the water price structure in the industrial sectors regarding water resource fee is important for China to achieve the target of industrial water conservation and a water-saving society. Two methods of rectification are provided: one is to revise the level of resource fee and the other is to adjust the rate of resource fee charged on the tap water. When the demand for industrial water is negatively correlated to the surface water resource fee, the impact of the resource fee for surface water on the demand for surface water is larger than the impact on the demand for ground water; the impact of the ground water resource fee on the demand for surface water is larger than the impact on the demand for ground water if the industrial water demand is positively related to the ground water resource fee. Meanwhile, given a negative relation between the industrial water demand and the surface water resource fee, the positive impact of the relative weight of surface water resource fee on the demand offsets the impact of surface water resource fee; if a positive relationship between the industrial water demand and the ground water resource fee holds, the positive impact of the relative weight of ground water resource fee enhances the impact of ground water resource fee on industrial water demand. Based on a panel data of 30 Chinese provinces between 2000 and 2013, this paper uses a simultaneous equation model to analyze the impact of water price structure on the demand for industrial water. We find a substitution effect between the consumption of surface water and the consumption of ground water, and both surface water resource fee and ground water resource fee have large impacts on the demand for surface water demand. Further, the water price structure characterized by the surface or ground water resource fee over the tap water price has enhanced the impact of water resource fee on industrial water demand, which suggests that the demand for tap water could be reduced by cutting down the relative weight of ground water resource fee. In sum, in order to promote conserving industrial water, while it is effective by adjusting water prices and resource fees, rectifying water price structure is more important. Specifically, with the strictest water resource regulations (e.g. the strictest policy of ground water mining), regulators should improve the efficiency of the management of the demand for surface water and increase the relative weight of the surface water source fee and/or reduce the weight of the ground water resource fee.