Umption) [402]. The formula is shown under: E SP = C (four) exactly where will be the water use efficiency of each and every region obtained from DEA (Equation 4); E refers for the regional GDP (CNY); C represents the total water consumption (m3 ). The ceiling worth from the shadow price tag is E/C when = 1. Then, the financial values embodied in virtual water flows can be estimated as beneath: EVW pq = (SPq – SP p ) E pq (five)where EVW pq represents the prospective financial value embodied within the virtual water flow from region p to q; SPq and SP p will be the shadow value of water sources in area p to q; E pq refers to net flow of virtual water from area p to q. Good values of EVW indicate financial gains though adverse values indicate economic losses.Water 2021, 13,5 of2.five. Data Section This function is focused on blue water, which consists of surface and groundwater resources. Given that there is certainly increasing usage of AGK7 Biological Activity reclaimed water and desalinated water in China’s water scarce north, future research are suggested to contain several different water sources. The MRIO table in 2012 with 13 cities inside the JingJinJi region (i.e., Beijing, Tianjin and 11 cities in Hebei province) and 31 sectors was obtained from the 2012 Nested Hebei Cities-Chinese Province MRIO [33]. A partial survey-based multiple-layer framework for MRIO table compilation of a Chinese province that distinguishes city-based regions was used within the earlier study [33]. A nested Hebei-China city-level MRIO table was then compiled. Resulting from data limitation, this study adopted the same assumption as Zheng et al. [33], aggregating three energy-producing sectors, i.e. electricity, heating and water supply, and applying Prostaglandin F1a-d9 In stock unified water intensity parameters for those 3 sectors. The water intensity variations of those 3 sectors are usually not anticipated to have substantial impacts on the results within this study as they collectively only created up 4 of the total societal water consumption in 2012. Nevertheless, future research in greater detail are suggested upon required data becoming available. The main contribution of this operate will be to establish a methodological framework to evaluate virtual water trades’ impacts on economies making use of the idea of water’s shadow rates. This approach is applied in China’s water-scarce but economically vibrant Jingjinji metropolitan region as an instance, while the most recent city-level input-output data in this region are from 2012. three. Results three.1. Net Virtual Water (VW) Flows within JingJinJi Area Figure 1a demonstrates the virtual water flows amongst the 13 cities within the JingJinJi area. Among which, Beijing (300.48 million m3 ), Tianjin (226.92 million m3 ), Handan (41.05 million m3 ), Langfang (28.22 million m3 ), and Tangshan (18.12 million m3 ) are five net virtual water receivers, whereas Shijiazhuang was the biggest virtual water exporter, exporting 173.29 million m3 virtual water in 2012. Figure 1b demonstrate respectively the virtual water flows of diverse sectors (Agriculture, Sector and Service) among the 13 cities. Shijiazhuang is also the biggest agricultural virtual water exporter, exporting 163.11 million m3 embodied in agricultural merchandise, whereas the largest two receivers had been Beijing and Tianjin, importing 294.35 and 189.06 million m3 of agriculture-embodied virtual water. Tangshan was the biggest virtual water exporter in terms of industrial sector, exporting 20.46 million m3 . Alternatively, Tianjin was the largest virtual water receiver in the industrial sector (36.04 million m3.