Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng urged authorities to
push water conservation efforts.?
"Water shortages will become one of the country's most urgent
challenges...in the next two decades,'' the minister warned
yesterday at a national conference.
Problems have worsened in most urban areas as supplies shrink in
more than 400 cities -- 60 percent of the country's total -- while
persistent droughts are endangering crops in rural areas.
Last year, China lost more than 30 million tons of grains. Some
34.6 billion yuan (US$4.1 billion) worth of cash crops were damaged
by spring and summer droughts that hit most areas in the north and
parts of the south, according to Wang.
The losses were worse than the annual average caused by dry
spells through the 1990s, the minister confirmed. He was confident,
however, that China has great potential to use water efficiently.
Over 70 percent of its total water supply each year is used for
irrigation while little is recycled.
"Building a water-saving society will be the only outlet for
China to tackle the issue today and maintain sustainable
development in the future,'' the minister told local water
officials attending the conference.
Wang asked local water authorities to set overall water use
targets and assure basic water rations for users living in
different areas or working in different industries and trades.
He also said the government will draft a water-saving program
based on pilot projects already carried out. For example, the
government of Zhangye, in northwest China's semi-arid Gansu
Province, has clearly defined and distributed water-use rights
to safeguard a limited supply. Wang hopes more areas will follow
suit.
"Once such quotas are set, water agencies must put the water
supply under control by legal, administrative, engineering,
economic and technical means," he added.
Wang urged local governments to restructure their economy and
industries in line with their regional water resources. To propel
the water-saving campaign this year "the prices of water will be
used as a major way to force users to make full use of the limited
water quotas they have paid for," Wang said.
He made it clear that, "Rules will be set for users to transfer
their water-use rights through open water trade market in a bid to
optimize precious resources in different regions."
(China Daily January 8, 2004)