Evaluating Cascading Water Utilization and Conservation Potential in Industrial Agglomerations: A Case Study of a Textile and Dyeing Park

Abstract

Textile and dyeing industrial agglomerations face profound socio-ecological pressures, yet conventional water network optimizations often oversimplify the highly fluctuating contaminant profiles inherent to empirical manufacturing processes. Addressing this structural complexity, this study establishes a comprehensive multi-tier water cascading network alongside a multi-criteria potential evaluation framework, utilizing a representative textile and dyeing zone as an empirical baseline. Throughout the modeling process, significant challenges arose regarding data irregularities across distinct corporate nodes, necessitating adaptive iterations of the superstructural constraints to accommodate complex quality thresholds. Multi-scenario simulations indicate that implementing optimized cascading pathways could, to some extent, mitigate freshwater reliance and reduce cumulative effluent loads. However, the observable variations in water-saving efficiency might also be attributed to systemic path-dependency and micro-level technological inertia within individual enterprises, rather than purely network architecture constraints. Considering these intertwined factors, our findings suggest that advancing industrial water symbiosis requires transitioning from rigid optimization models to dynamic, adaptive socio-technical frameworks. While the proposed approach offers a robust diagnostic baseline, further longitudinal research is needed to decipher the long-term impact of unpredictable cross-enterprise chemical fluctuations on network stability.