Focus Interview | Water Governance and Revitalization China Answer Sheet

>

Water is the foundation of life, the source of civilization, and a key resource for achieving sustainable development and maintaining ecological stability. The 18th World Water Resources Conference, with the theme of "Water and Everything: Harmonious Coexistence between Man and Nature", was held in Beijing from September 11th to 15th. This is the first time this conference has been held in China. Experts, scholars, and representatives from 83 countries and regions, 36 international organizations, and more than 850 water related institutions participated in this conference to jointly seek water resource protection and development. At the meeting, China's achievements, ideas, and experiences in water management attracted high attention from representatives from various countries.

In the western region of China, the Shiyang River, originating from the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains, is the third largest river in the inland water system of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province. The river has a total length of 250 kilometers and flows through Liangzhou District and Minqin County in Wuwei City into the terminal lake - Qingtu Lake.

Since ancient times, the northwest region of China has been short of water and ecologically fragile. The dried up Qingtu Lake has gradually turned into a desert. It is incredible that after drying up for over half a century, Qingtu Lake has now come back to life.

So how did it resurrect? Where does water come from?

Li Yuanyuan, Vice President of the Water Resources and Hydropower Planning and Design Institute of the Ministry of Water Resources and President of the International Water Resources Society, said: "We have reduced the scale of land use by conserving water and transforming irrigation methods, and tried to transport water from the Shiyang River downwards, improving the downstream ecological environment and restoring Qingtu Lake.". But even with the best efforts, the highest level of water conservation, and the strictest management, it still exceeds the carrying capacity of water resources and the local water is insufficient.

To alleviate the water shortage in the Shiyang River Basin, it is necessary to introduce new water sources. The most feasible approach is to use the Yellow River to replenish water to the Shiyang River.

These water channels are the Jingdian Irrigation Project implemented in China since the 1970s. This high lift, large flow, and multi-stage electric water lifting irrigation project diverts the Yellow River water from Jingtai County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province to several hundred meters of barren land, turning the Gobi Desert in the west of the river into a "rice and grain river".

Starting from 2001, in order to solve the water shortage problem in the lower reaches of the Shiyang River, the Jingdian Phase II project was extended to Minqin County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, and began to divert the Yellow River into the Shiyang River basin.

Wuwei, Gansu is an important city in the Shiyang River Basin. For a long time, the problem of resource based water shortage has seriously constrained local development. After the implementation of the Jingdian Phase II project, the Yellow River water departed from Jingtai County, Gansu Province, and was lifted 473 meters through 13 cascade pumping stations. The entire journey spanned 260 kilometers and finally reached Minqin County, Wuwei City.

Yin Xuemei, Director of the Water Resources Utilization Center in the Shiyang River Basin of the Gansu Provincial Department of Water Resources, stated that the Jingdian Phase II project has been used to divert Yellow River water to Minqin, with a total volume of 1.776 billion cubic meters, accounting for one-third of Minqin's total water inflow. This project is used to replace overexploited groundwater, ensure ecological water use, and balance production water use, effectively alleviating the water shortage problem in Minqin.

With the Yellow River water, the long-term water shortage problem in the local area has been greatly alleviated, and the ecological environment of the Shiyang River Basin has also been significantly improved.

However, constructing a series of projects to attract water from the Yellow River for water resource allocation can to some extent alleviate the problem of water scarcity in the Shiyang River Basin. However, ultimately, it is necessary to strengthen water resource management from the perspective of institutional design and truly achieve "water conservation priority" and "spatial balance".

In Wuwei City, Gansu Province, in recent years, the local government has also been exploring new models of water resource management.

In order to make rational use of water resources and carry out refined management and control of water resources, the local government has begun to implement a water rights allocation mechanism. According to the principles of total quantity control and quota management, that is, based on factors such as the total amount of available water, industrial structure, crop structure, planting area, and water quota, water use indicators are determined, and the available water is refined to each water user.

A total of 13 machine wells have been set up in Yangtong Village, responsible for irrigating 2537 acres of farmland in the village. Each well has an "ID card" that indicates the location of the well and the annual water intake permit approved by the Provincial Department of Water Resources, which is equivalent to determining the upper limit of water intake for each well.

The allocation of water rights has established an inherent driving mechanism for water conservation, effectively controlling water consumption, reducing water waste, and promoting continuous improvement of irrigation methods and modern cultivation in the local area.

Now, in Yongchang Irrigation District, Liangzhou District, where Yangtong Village is located, all 1154 wells have achieved intelligent metering control. The local water bureau can use an information monitoring platform to monitor the irrigation of 233200 acres of farmland wells in the irrigation area in real time, as well as precise remote control.

In addition to mobilizing everyone's enthusiasm for water-saving through the water rights allocation mechanism, water rights trading is also an effective way to allocate water resources reasonably through market means.

In 2021, the water rights trading system led by the Ministry of Water Resources was launched, and Qingyuan Irrigation District in Liangzhou District, Wuwei City, Gansu Province was designated as a pilot for online water rights trading.

Water rights trading is to make water rights a liquid resource with market value. Through market mechanisms, it encourages water rights holders with low water efficiency to consider costs and save water, and transfers the saved water rights to water users with high marginal benefits, thereby improving the overall efficiency of social water use and achieving secondary optimization of water resource allocation.

In recent years, through comprehensive management measures such as implementing water rights reform and diverting Yellow River water, Qingtu Lake has gradually recovered, and the ecological environment of the Shiyang River Basin has been greatly improved.

The Shiyang River Basin is a microcosm of water resource management in China. In recent years, many parts of the country have been exploring effective governance measures based on actual situations to alleviate water scarcity and achieve efficient and rational utilization of water resources.

In the North China Plain of China, since the 1980s, with the rapid economic development, the water consumption has far exceeded the carrying capacity of local water resources, leading to serious overexploitation of groundwater. To solve this problem, a series of large-scale projects have been constructed one after another.

In the national water network system, the South to North Water Diversion Project is one of the major arteries, providing strong support for solving the problem of water scarcity in North China.

However, in some rural areas, especially remote mountainous areas in China, due to the large area and scattered population, these large-scale water resource projects are usually unable to cover. Therefore, it is necessary to tailor measures to local conditions and build some safe and reliable water supply projects to meet the water needs of mountain residents.

Shanshang Village in Anyi County, Jiangxi Province belongs to such an area. Although water resources are abundant here, the distribution of rainfall in time and space is uneven, and many places cannot store water. Therefore, for many years, local people have had to use soil methods to bring spring water to their homes to solve basic water supply problems. However, using this traditional and outdated method of water storage and diversion makes it difficult to ensure both water quantity and quality. How can local people have sufficient and safe water to drink?

In recent years, Anyi County, where Shanshang Village is located, has implemented a Phase III safe drinking water project, crossing high mountains and deep streams to find a stable water source. By constructing water storage and filtration tanks, the mountain spring water has reached safe drinking standards, and then the pipeline is laid to introduce the mountain spring water into various households. The plight of local people lacking water and poor water quality has been fundamentally improved.

In recent years, with the continuous efforts of all parties, China has basically built a relatively complete rural water supply engineering system. As of the end of 2022, the popularization rate of rural tap water has reached 87%.

China, with 6% of the world's freshwater resources, ensures the water use of nearly 20% of the world's population, making a huge contribution to the construction of a modern global water resource governance system.

Xu Dezhi, Deputy Director of the Rural Water Resources and Hydropower Department of the Ministry of Water Resources: Next, we will formulate a high-quality development plan for rural water supply, prioritize the integration of urban and rural water supply projects, vigorously develop large-scale water supply projects, and promote the standardized construction and renovation of small-scale water supply projects according to local conditions. At the same time, for the rural residents who still have no access to tap water, some engineering construction measures are also taken to gradually improve the level of rural water supply guarantee in these areas and gradually improve the satisfaction of rural residents with water use.

In recent years, China has steadfastly implemented the water management concept of "prioritizing water conservation, balancing space, systematic governance, and dual efforts", and has achieved remarkable results in water management worldwide. This is also an important reason why the 18th World Water Resources Conference chose to be held in China. Today, the world is facing frequent water disasters, water resource shortages, water ecological damage, water environmental pollution and other water security issues. It is urgent for countries to use water as a link and work together. China will also work together with the international community to promote global water governance reform and development, and to build a new chapter in water governance for a community with a shared future for mankind.

Editor | Pi Wangxing, Liu Long, Liu Zhan, Zhao Xu, Ma Li, Guo Yichun, Fan Cunbao

Camera | Zhang Wenjie, Chen Ziqiang, Shuzhan

Editing | Zheng Yu

Planning | Yu Renshan