China has 840b cu m of usable water

BEIJING—China’s total water volume stands at 2.8 trillion cubic meters, of which 840 billion cu m can be used, according to Duan Hongdong, deputy head of the Ministry of Water Resources’ planning department.
The figures are from a recent national survey and assessment on water quality, Duan said on Tuesday during an interview with the central government website (the government website can be found atwww.gov.cn/zxft/ft71). Annual demand for water in recent years has averaged 550 billion to 560 billion cubic meters nationwide, Duan noted. Industrial use is increasing, while at the same time agricultural use is decreasing.
He added that water supply in China, which has about 22 percent of the world’s population but only seven percent of its water supply, is challenged by pollution, and also seasonal shortages in southern regions. The water resources ministry is considering establishing a national system to conserve and improve ecology related to water supply, he said.
According to Duan, since December 2002 when China opened its urban water supply business to foreign investment, the national water market has attracted several hundreds of billions U.S. dollars of foreign capital. Some well-known water resources companies from France, Britain and Germany have established sewage treatment and running water supply projects in China.
Among them, the France-based Veolia has pumped in more than 10 billion yuan (1.35 billion U.S. dollars), providing sewage treatment and water supply services for 29.4 million people in 20 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Haikou and Urumqi. Also in the interview with the central government website, Zhang Yue, deputy head of the Ministry of Construction’s urban construction department, said water plants in China’s 661 main cities provide 270 million tons of running water every day, which can largely meet demand from urban residents.
According to Zhang’s estimates, investment in China’s water market will reach one trillion yuan in the coming five years. Of the total, some 300 billion yuan will go to sewage treatment and 100 billion yuan will be used for upgrading water supply facilities and equipment in urban areas. China’s chief environment official Zhou Shengxian on Tuesday reiterated a six-point plan to tackle water pollution in the country’s ailing rivers and lakes. “To contain water pollution, we should, firstly, continue to strictly control the discharge of various pollutants,” Zhou, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.
He revealed maximum levels of pollutant emissions would be set for different regions in China. “All the new and existing projects should not produce more pollutants than the stipulated amount.” “Regions that fail to keep their pollutant emissions within the limit will not be allowed to embark on new projects except for environmentally-friendly ones,” Zhou said.
He also said that, starting from 2010, tougher emission standards would be adopted for key drinking water resources and during the dry seasons.—Xinhua