The price change, ratified by the municipal people's government and heard by the municipal price hearing committee, follows a plan of the State Council to achieve sustainable use of Beijing water resources in the 21st century.

The plan will increase complex water prices by 0.64 yuan per cubic meter this year, involving a rise of 0.3 yuan in water resources fees, 0.18 yuan in tap water and 0.16 yuan in waste water treating.

The Chinese capital of Beijing has increased its water saving and sustainable development efforts in recent years and has saved 437 million cubic meters of water from 2000 to 2002, equivalent to the size of four Huairou reservoirs, a key reservoir in the outskirt of Beijing.

However, Beijing still faces pressing problems like water conservation and pollution treatment, which makes price leverage necessary to achieve rational water exploitation.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2003)