Abstract: Distinguishing the characteristics of regional water utilization structure is of great importance for optimizing the allocation of regional water resources and the coordinated development of social economy and ecological environment. The Lorentz curve, Gini coefficient, Lorentz asymmetry coefficient and other methods are used to quantitatively analyze the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics, equilibrium differences, and major water consumption indicators. The major water consumption indicators include 10 000 Yuan GDP water consumption, 10 000 Yuan industrial value-added water consumption, per capita comprehensive water consumption and net irrigation water consumption. Results unveil significant differences in the structure of water utilization in Gansu Province. The Gini coefficient of industrial water use, urban public water use, and domestic water consumption are all greater than 40%, exceeding the “warning line”. The ecological environmental water use and agricultural water use are relatively reasonably distributed; but have not yet reached the goal of “spatial balance” for water control. Industrial water use, urban public water use, and domestic water use are evidently unevenly distributed in spatial scale, and generally presents asymmetric characteristics dominated by areas with larger types of water consumption. The research results are basically consistent with the actual situation, which indicates that the research ideas and methods can be taken as reference for the optimization of regional water resources allocation and the analysis of water utilization.

Key words: water consumption structure, distribution characteristics, Lorentz curve, Gini coefficient, Gansu Province