Abstract
In the paper, Data Envelopment Analysis Tobit (DEA-Tobit) two-stage model was used to evaluate the efficiency of water-resource utilization, and regional differences and influencing factors water-resource utilization were analyzed. The results of the analysis of regional differences show that China's water-use efficiency is relatively low. Only Beijing, Shanghai, and Fujian have water-use efficiency higher than 0.8, whereas most other provinces and cities have an efficiency 0.3–0.8, there are regional differences in water-resource utilization efficiency in China, with the eastern region being higher than the central and western regions. The analysis of the influencing factors of regional differences in water-use efficiency found that per capita water resources, per capita domestic water use, and the proportion of primary and secondary industries all have a negative impact on the efficiency of water use, and per capita GDP has a positive impact on the efficiency of water use. Agricultural water consumption, industrial water consumption, domestic water consumption, and total ecological water consumption all have a negative impact on water-resource utilization efficiency, of which water consumption and industrial water consumption have a greater impact. Technological level and water-resource utilization efficiency have shown a significant positive correlation.