Water conservation will have become a way of life across the nation
by 2020 to match a relatively well-off society.
"The crux of building a water-saving society in China will
depend on what we are going to do in the next 15 years," said Suo
Lisheng, vice-minister for water resources.
He noted that "building a water-saving society is the best
strategy for China to tackle an ever-increasing water crisis a
problem facing the country since last century."
The ministry responsible for water will host the Water Expo
China 2006 from April 26-29 next year at the Beijing Agriculture
Exhibition Center, focusing on "guaranteeing drinking water
security and building a harmonious society," according to Suo.
The expo will showcase the latest products and technology
related to water conservation.
A high-level forum on water use will be held on the sidelines of
the main conference.
Suo believes there is a large potential market for water-saving
products in the years ahead.
"With China's rapid industrialization and urbanization, the
shortage of water resources has become one of the major sectors
restricting the country's economic development and progress of
society," Suo said.
Options include grand plans for usage, a revision of payment
systems and reasonable pricing to limit consumption quotas for
different regions and purposes.
Meanwhile, water recycling, pollution control and more efficient
technology for industries and farming must be further developed to
make full use of the existing water supply infrastructure.
To propel the water-saving campaign forwards, "the prices of
water must be used as a major way to force users to make full use
of the limited water quotas they have paid for," Wang
Shucheng, minister of water resources, said.
The ministry has introduced successful pilot projects in Zhangye
in northwest China's Gansu
Province, Mianyang in southwest China's Sichuan
Province and Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning
Province, he said.
The local government of Zhangye, in a semi-arid region, has
clearly defined and distributed water use rights to safeguard its
limited supply.
Wang urged local governments in other areas to follow suit,
considering water resources as they develop.
The national per capita water allocation is less than 2,200
cubic meters, or only a quarter of the world average. The figure is
only 990 cubic meters in North China's drought-prone regions.
The figure will hit a record low of 1,750 cubic meters in 2030
as the population peaks at an estimated 1.6 billion people, experts
forecast.
The country's total water consumption will reach 700 to 800
billion cubic meters by 2030, approaching the absolute limit.
"By then, China may be plunged into a water crisis with such a
situation and its capacity for exploiting further water supply
would become much more difficult than today," Suo said.
In a regular year, water shortages amount to an average 40
billion cubic meters, with 75 percent needed to irrigate farmland,
according to experts.
Drought has, since 1991, affected more than 27 million hectares
of farmland every year? more than a fifth of the country's
total. The result has been a reduction in grain output of more than
28 billion kilograms.
Today, among 660 Chinese cities, more than 400 are short of
water, and the situation is very bad in more than 100 cities
including Beijing and Tianjin.
More than 230 billion yuan (US$27 billion) worth of industrial
output is lost every year throughout China due to water
shortages.
The nation consumed an average of 465 cubic meters of water for
each 10,000 yuan (US$1,204) of gross domestic product achieved in
2003, about four times the global average, according to the latest
figures from water resources authorities.
(China Daily May 6, 2005)
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