Measurement and Improvement Path of Green Configuration Efficiency of Water Resources in the Context of Rapid Urbanization

With the acceleration of global urbanization, water resources, as a core element supporting the economic and social development of cities, have seen their green configuration efficiency become a significant bottleneck restricting the sustainable development of cities. In order to alleviate the contradiction between water resources supply and demand, and to optimize the water supply issue brought about by rapid urbanization, based on the DEA–Malmquist index method, this study systematically measured the dynamic evolution characteristics of the green configuration efficiency of water resources in the Yellow River areas of Gansu Province, China from 2012 to 2022, and analyzed the key factors affecting these efficiencies. The research findings show that from 2012 to 2022, the Yellow River areas in Gansu Province demonstrated DEA effectiveness, while the majority of the remaining areas experienced varying degrees of fluctuation and increase in the efficiency of green water resource allocation, with an overall average increase rate of 4.28%. By decomposition of the Malmquist green configuration efficiency index, it was found that from 2012 to 2022, the green configuration efficiency of water resources in the Yellow River areas of Gansu Province showed an overall trend of fluctuating upward first and then decreasing. The Yellow River areas of Gansu Province all showed technological progress to varying degrees, but due to the limitation of the decline in the technical efficiency index, some areas failed to achieve the efficient utilization of green allocation of water resources. Based on the research conclusions, countermeasures and suggestions for improving the efficiency of green water resource allocation in various regions of Gansu Province are put forward.