Segmented Governance and Water Quality : Evidence from Major Lakes and Reservoirs in China

In China, large lakes and reservoirs usually span several administrative areas; therefore, they are co-managed by many government agencies. Such segmented governance generates a ``Tragedy of the Commons'' type problem, under which water bodies with more administrative areas involved tend to be more polluted than those with fewer administrative areas involved. To show this, we built a simple model and illustrated that water quality deteriorates when the number of administrative areas increases. We proceeded to test this argument with a dataset that covers 288 major lakes and 719 reservoirs across China. Our hand-collected water quality measures include two limited-value variables: the surface water quality and the trophic state (tier 1 to 6); and the larger the number, the higher the pollution level. Using an ordered logit model and controlling for various economic, geographic and demographic features, we found that: when an additional county was involved in water management, the water quality of a lake or reservoir is more likely to deteriorate by one tier, i.e., heading towards a more polluted and more nutrient state. Our results suggest that simplifying the administrative hierarchy may help maintain clean water bodies