6th China-EU Round Table
27-28 October, Stockholm
Water Resources Utilization and Sustainable Development in China
Dr. Gan Hong
CESC Rapporteur
Deputy Director, Department of Water Resources, IWHR
1
1.INTRODUCTION
China is a large country with an extensive territory, a huge population and rapid economic development. Situated in the eastern part of Eurasia within the westerlies in the northern hemisphere and under the control of the Pacific’s warm, humid current and the East Asian monsoon, the amount of precipitation and water resources in China are limited and vary greatly within a year and from year to year, limiting the per capita amount of water resources. China’s demands for resources, particularly water resources, haveincreased continuously since the start of the 1980s economic recovery. Also, the 21st century has brought more water resource problems with global climate change effects on water resources, such as water shortages, water pollution and deterioration of water environment and ecology, becoming more serious. Therefore, water resources are one important factor restricting sustainable economic development in China. Increasingly severe and frequent water-related conflicts are predicted in the 21st century as the limit on water resources grows into the most serious problem threatening human society.
Throughout its history, limited water resources have troubledChina’s economic development and the lives of the Chinese people. In the last 20 years, the Chinese government and various types of organizations have taken active measures, including formulating mid- to long-term strategic plans, constructing water works for water supply, flood control and ecological conservation, formulating and improving water legislation and intensifying the reform of water resources management systems to solve water problems, remedy the unfavorable conditions caused by limited water and prevent the worsening trend, which are all indispensable for achieving sustainable economic and social development. Hopefully, consensus on solutions to water problems will be reached at this meeting of the China-EU Round Table.
2. CHARACTERISTICS AND CURRENT STATUS OF WATER RESOURCES IN CHINA
With a vast territory and numerous rivers, China is divided into ten class Iwater resources regions based on river basins, including the YangtzeRiver Basin, YellowRiver Basin, SonghuaRiver Basin, LiaoheRiver Basin, HaiheRiver Basin, HuaiheRiver Basin, PearlRiver Basin, SoutheastRivers, SouthwestRivers and NorthwestRivers. Precipitation and water resources vary greatly as affected by physiographical conditions. The inter-year and intra-year ratio of the maximum annual precipitation to the minimum ranges 2-10 to 1; and 60-80% of the annual precipitation is concentrated within June to September. The regional distribution of annual precipitation is less than 10 mm in the northwestern inland region, but may be up to over 2600 mm in the southeastern region. The temporal and spatial distribution of water resources is similar to that of precipitation. The total amount of water resources in China is 2840 billion m3, of which 814 billion m3 may be exploited for economic and social uses, i.e., the proportion of exploitable water resources is 29%.
China ranks sixth in the total amount of water resources, afterBrazil, Russia, Canada, the United States and Indonesia. However, because of the huge population, China’s per capita amount of natural water resources is at present only about 2100 m3, less than 30% of the world average, ranking China 54th among the 77 countries with a population of 10 million or more, or 9th among the 11 countries with a population of 100 million or more. As the water resources are geographically unevenly distributed, there are nine provincial administrative regions includingBeijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Shanxi.With extremelyscarce water resources, each region hasa per capita supply of water resources of less than 500 m3.
In addition, water resources are relatively rich in the southern and eastern regions and relatively poor in the northern and western regions, but the distribution of land, energy sources and mineral resources is opposite. North China and the Central Plains are densely populated with a highly developed economy, but the water resources are very scarce. The southwestern region is rich in water resources, but the population there is relatively sparse and the economy less developed. Therefore, the distribution of water resources is not consistent with that of population, other resources or productivity.
Between 1949 and 2007, the national water supply increased from 103.1 billion m3 to 581.9 billion m3, or by 4.6 times, and the degree of water resources exploitation increased to 20.5%. Surface water accounts for 81.5% of the national water supply and groundwater 18.4%. With the proportion of exploitable water resources at 29%, the per capita exploitable amount of water resources in China is less than 650 m3. The present per capita water supply is already 440 m3; the potential for further water resourcedevelopment is limited and the difficulty and cost of development are continuously increasing. In particular, in the HaiheRiver Basin, which suffers serious water scarcity andwhere the proportion of exploitable water resources is 64%, the degree of water resources exploitation is already up to 106% through groundwater over-abstraction.
Agricultural water use accounts for 61.8% of the total amount of water use, industrial water use 24.2%, domestic water use 12.2% and eco-environmental water use/supplement 1.8%. After deducting return of water to the natural water bodies, the national water consumption is 302.2 billion m3, and the average rate of water consumption is 51.9%.
The existing water laws in China include the Water Law, the Flood Control Law, the Law for Soil and Water Conservation, and the Law for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution. Other laws concerned with water include the Environmental Protection Law, the Land Law, the Forest Law, the Grassland Law, and the laws of the sea. There are more than 70water-related administrative regulations promulgated by the State Council, including the Regulation for Flood Control, the Regulation for River Channel Management, and the Regulation for Water Abstraction Permit and Collection of Water Resources Fee. In addition, there are hundreds of ministry regulations and local laws and regulations concerned with water. So, China has formed a relatively comprehensive water legislation system and is playing an active role in water resources management.
According to the Water Law, water resources are owned by the state, and the Ministry of Water Resources (“MWR”) under the State Council is authorized to implement unified water resources management with a system of basin management in conjunction with administrative region management. River basin authorities have been established by the state for important river basins as detached offices of MWR to exercise their responsibilities for unified water resource management within their jurisdictions. Altogether, there are seven such river basin authorities, and they are responsible for coordinating inter-provincial water resources issues within the national ten class I water resources regions. Since the 1990s, by learning from water management experiences of European countries, many cities in China have tried a type of urban water management system in which water affairs, such as water supply, water use, drainage, wastewater treatment, reuse of reclaimed wastewater, flood control, and water and eco-environmental protection, are integrated, thus effectively overcoming the problems of the previously fragmented management, such as overlapping and unclear responsibilities.
3. CHALLENGES
(1) Water Scarcity and Shortage
Water resources in China are distributed unevenly in time and space and the per capita amount of water resources is small; thus, water scarcity and shortage are serious. Sixteen provincial level administrative regions, accounting for one-third of the national population, have a per capita amount of water resources less than 2000 m3, in which six have a per capita amount of water resources less than 500 m3, with Tianjin having the smallest amount of 168 m3. The six class I water resources regions in northern China account for 64% of the national territory, 46% of the national population and 64% of the national farmland, but only 19% of the national water resources. In particular, the HaiheRiver Basin, the region with the most serious water shortage in China, has a per capita amount of water resources less than 300 m3. It is estimated that the national average annual water shortage is about 36 billion m3, or the rate of water shortage is about 6%. In a moderately dry year (P=75%), the water shortage is 42 billion m3, and the rate of water shortage in an extremely dry year is over 10%. At present, the annual average agricultural water shortage is about 30 billion m3, and the urban and industrial water shortageis about 6 billion m3. Two-thirds of more than 660 cities see water shortage to a varying extent, and one-sixth of them suffer from serious water shortage. On average, drought and water shortage affect about 20 million ha of farmland, 20 million urban population and 250 billion Yuan of industrial added output value each year.
Though water resources are a type of renewable,clean resource, because of the increase of water demands by economic and social water uses, the amount of water consumption has increased continuously, thus water resources depletion has occurred similar to that of mineral resources. According to a recent study, the national amount of water resources depletion was 27.2 billion m3 in 2005, and the largest component was 12.6 billion m3 occurring in the HaiheRiver Basin. If water resources depletion were to continue, inestimable impacts would be produced on the natural water cycle and the economic and social systems, and sustainable utilization of water resources would be impossible.
(2) Serious Water Pollution
Since 1978, China has experienced 30 consecutive years of rapid industrialization and urbanization. During 1980 to 2005, the population increased by 320 million, the industrial added output value increased by 4.2 times, and the rate of urbanization rose from less than 20% to 42% with a urban population of more than 500 million. At the same time, urban and industrial water use increased in a large amount and the amount of wastewater discharge increased from 31.5 billion t in 1980 to 71.7 billion t in 2005. In addition, uses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture and excrement of poultry and livestock increased in a large amount to createextensive non-point pollution sources. As a result, the rivers, lakes, shallow groundwater and sources of domestic water supply have been polluted to a varying extent.
The national industrial wastewater discharge was 48 billion t in 2005. Though most of the wastewater is discharged after being treated to the specified standard, because of the low treatment standards and small amount of river flow, the concentration of pollutant is still much higher than the national acceptable standard for water environment. The national annual urban sewage discharge was 24 billion t, but the rate of centralized treatment was less than 50%, and two-fifths of China’s more than 660 cities still do not have a wastewater treatment plant. With the development of large-sized animal cultivation enterprises, the annual amount of excrement of poultry and livestock has increased to about 2 billion t, but the rate of harmless treatment is very low. With the growth of urban population, the annual urban domestic garbage has increased to about 150 million t, but the rate of harmless treatment is also very low.
Because of the increase of point and non-point pollution sources in a large amount, the quality of the national water environment has shown a trend of continuous decline. In particular, the densely populated and economically developed areas, such as the areas of the Three Rivers and Three Lakes (the Liaohe, Haihe and Huaihe rivers and the Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi lakes), have the most serious water pollution problems.
(3) Deterioration of Water Ecology
Because of irrational development and use of water and land resources, particularly in the northern regions, which are rich in land but poor in water resources, many problems have occurred, such as serious scarcity-induced shortages, over-exploitation of water resources andextensive occupation of water for ecological use of river channels by economic use, resulting in the dryingup of river channels, reduction or even disappearance of lakes and wetlands, sustained decline of groundwater level because of long term over-abstraction, ecological deterioration of river estuaries and deltas and continuous deterioration of water eco-environment. For example, the lower reach of the Yellow River was driedup almost every year during 1972 to 1999 (unified regulation of the main Yellow River has been implemented since 1999, and no dryingup has occurred for a consecutive ten years). Over 60% of the rivers of the northern Haihe River have run dry, and the Liaohe and Huaihe rivers have also run dry many times. Because of the reduction or cessation of river flow, many wetland and lakes have shrunk or disappeared in Northeast and North China. For example, BaiyangdianLake, known as “A Pearl of North China”, has frequently faced threats of dryingup, and long distance emergency water diversion has been implemented to salvage the lake.
(4) Frequent Flood and Water Logging Disasters and Serious Soil Erosion
Chinahas the most serious flood and waterlogging disasters in the world. According to historic records, 1,092 relatively heavy flood and waterlogging disasters occurred inChinabetween206 BC and1949AD, or one every two years. Between1950 and2005, more than 30 relatively heavyflood and waterlogging disasters occurred inthe major river basins, or two every three years. According to the statistics for1950 to 2005, flood and waterlogging disasters caused onaverage 4,836 deaths, affected 9.92 million ha of farmland and destroyed 2.05 million houses each year. Particularly since the 1990s, China has entered a period of high frequency of flood and waterlogging disaster occurrence,causing heavy losses. Between1991 and2005, flood and waterlogging disasters caused a total direct economic loss of 1758.1 billion Yuan, or 117.2 billion Yuan annually. In 1998, the economic loss was up to 255.1 billion Yuan, accounting for 3.3% of GDP of that year. Since the start of the 21st century, storm tide disasters in the coastal areas, flash floods of small and medium rivers, mud-rock flows and landslides in mountainous areas and waterlogging in urban areas have shown an increasing trend.
China also has the most serious soil erosion in the world. According to the second national remote-sending survey conducted from 1999 to 2000, the national area of soil erosion is 3.56 million km2, accounting for 37% of the national territory, in which 1.91 million km2belongs to wind erosion areas (occupying one-third of the world total), 1.65 million km2 hydraulic erosion area (occupying 15% of the world total), and the amount of soil loss is about 5 billion t annually. Soil erosion has resulted in land sandification, grassland deterioration, ecological deterioration and increased sandstorm disasters, and has also siltedrivers and reservoirs and worsened flood and waterlogging disasters. In particular, soil erosion hascaused serious damage to the environment for agriculture, animal husbandry and the humanhabitat. It is estimated that the direct economic loss caused by hydraulic soil erosion was 56.8 billion Yuan in 2000; the direct economic loss caused by wind erosion and sandification is 54 billion Yuan annually, and the indirect economic loss may be more than two times that direct economic loss.
(5) Low Levels of Management, Development and Use of Water Resources
Because of the floating nature of water resources, water resources management and control is difficult and has a high cost. Moreover, the legislation, institution, instruments and capacity of water resources management in Chinais still deficient. Therefore, though the level of water resources management has improved greatly in China, there is still a big gap between China and advanced countries in the concept, instrument and institution of water resources management. In China, efforts still need to be made to further improve water legislation and intensify legislation enforcement; streamline water management institution and modernize management instruments; establish and improve the water rights system and mechanism for interests coordination; and intensify water resources research and water knowledge dissemination among the public.
Before the start of economic reforms in the 1980s, water resources management in Chinawas crude and the methods of water use were backward, resulting in low benefits. After 30 years of efforts, the level of water resources management and the efficiency of water use have improved greatly. For example, the water use per 10,000 Yuan RMB of GDP was 9820 m3 in 1980, and decreased to 229 m3 in 2007. However, based on the currency exchange rate, it is still three-times the world average and five- to ten-times the average of advanced countries. In China, the reuse rate of industrial water was less than 20% in 1980, and had increased to about 60% in 2007, which is still far from that of advanced countries, at over 80%. The agricultural irrigation water efficiency was about 0.3 in 1980, and increased to 0.47 by2007, which is also far from that of advanced countries,atover 0.7. Therefore, the key toalleviating water shortages and achieving sustainable use of water resources is to further intensify water conservation and improve water use efficiency.