Evaluation of water environmental carrying capacity of city in Huaihe River Basin based on the AHP method: A case in Huai'an City

There is abundant rainfall in Huaihe River Basin as a land flowing with milk and honey, however it is also one of the high incidence areas with flood disaster. As a core city in Huaihe River Basin, Huai'an was selected for the study on carrying capacity of water environment from 2005 to 2014 using a method of analytic hierarchy process (AHP). And the paper combined water environment condition with the characteristics of regional socio-economy and environment in Huaihe River Basin. The results showed that water environment carrying capacity appeared an upward tendency. In three index layers, social factors had significant impact on the carrying capacity of water environment, and their changes were relatively consistent, total population, urbanization rate and residents living water were major constraints to water environment carrying capacity in Huai'an City.