China's Inter-Basin Water Transfer Projects Dataset: Spatial Distribution, Historical Evolution, and Socio-Economic Impacts

Socioeconomic development and climate change have exacerbated the water supply-demand imbalance in China, making inter-basin water transfer an important means to alleviate regional water shortages. Water diversion and transfer projects play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of water resources and promoting sustainable economic development in China. However, the lack of a comprehensive and systematic dataset for China's water transfer projects has greatly limited the ability to assess and analyze the impact of these projects on water resource allocation, ecological environment, and socioeconomic factors on a national scale. This study integrates multi-source data to construct a dataset on the spatial distribution, historical evolution, and socioeconomic impacts of China's inter-basin water transfer projects. The results show that: (1) Water transfer projects have significantly improved the water supply capacity in the arid regions of northern China; (2) Inter-basin water transfer projects mainly support agricultural irrigation, urban water supply, and ecological construction in the receiving areas; (3) Some receiving areas face ecological risks such as groundwater table rise and increased salinization. This dataset provides significant support for academic research and government decision-making, as well as a data foundation for promoting the optimized allocation of water resources and sustainable development across different regions of China.