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Time to take stake in water

By Alexis Hooi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-11 07:18

From the highest levels of government to the homes of residents, the future of China's water needs is at a turning point.

Already, some of the most groundbreaking moves are being undertaken to plug shortages of the life-giving resource in the country.

The south-to-north water diversion project is channeling water from the Yangtze River to the arid north through three waterways stretching 1,300km each. By 2050, the $70 billion endeavor is expected to serve 300 million people in a dozen provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions who lack adequate water supplies.

The Beijing section of the project alone is posed to provide about a third of the city's annual water consumption when it is completed in 2010.

Traversing more than 300 km, four rivers, and 23 roads and railways, it will also enable the capital to draw on four reservoirs in neighboring Hebei province to ensure that no tap runs dry during the Olympics.

Just last month, the country's top legislature adopted an amendment to a law that toughens punishment for water polluters.

Premier Wen Jiabao said in his work report to the 11th National People's Congress last week that more exacting limits for pollution discharge will also be set for key river valleys.

All these measures could not have come at a more critical time.

The United Nations has called the 21st century the century of water - where resolving water issues will be a paramount task.

In China, the northern regions have been forecast to experience some of the most severe droughts this year, with levels of lakes and underground water tables at record lows. Usually wet, humid regions also saw significant decrease in recent rainfall.

Amid these challenges, Wen reiterated in his report a crucial component in securing the country's water resources - nurturing a culture of conservation.

It is a familiar message I remember back in Singapore. Breakthroughs in membrane technology have enabled the island republic to boost limited supplies by desalinating and recycling water.

But the city-state's water agency has also been relentless in drumming the message of protecting and valuing the resource into the people. In one instance, the authorities opened up some of its few reservoirs to the public for leisure activities to get its citizens closer to water resources and give them a bigger stake.

China's own call for water conservation must be heard loud and clear especially in cities, where a ready supply of water is mostly taken for granted. The Ministry of Water Resources has reported that about 400 of the country's 600 cities are facing shortages.

Beijing alone has suffered nine years of drought and its underground water tables continue to fall while water usage rises. Each of its residents has access to less than 300 cu m of water a year, just one-eighth of the national average and one-thirtieth of the world average.

From car washes to washing machines, water-saving measures practiced by the capital's urbanites have proven that at least half of water usage can be saved.

The authorities have also said they will provide free water-saving equipment this year to 30,000 low-income families.

Advertising executive Chen Zhenzhen has started using thimbles on her taps and cistern bags her friends gave her to save household water.

"It doesn't seem like much," the 40-year-old Beijing resident said. "But every drop counts."

Alexis Hooi is a senior copy

editor/writer with China Daily

(China Daily 03/11/2008 page7)