With a complex distribution of water resources, China faces arduous task when it comes to water conservation. Water conservation is of special importance to China’s ecological protection and socioeconomic development, and closely related to people’s wellbeing.
The Chinese authorities have urged its people and regional governments to make water saving a priority, and conserve water sources with coordinated measures.
In the past 10 years, China has made significant progress in flood- and drought-prevention, with no serious floods reported in the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Haihe River, Pearl River, Taihu Lake and other large river and lake regions. The average annual flood-caused economic loss as a percentage of GDP has declined from 0.57% in the 2002-12 period to 0.31% over the past decade.
The launching of a large number of water conservancy projects has helped lower the magnitude of floods, maintain regular water supply, minimize saline water tides, and fight droughts. Timely and accurate weather forecasts and early warnings have also helped to prevent rain- and flood-related disasters.
Ensuring water safety has played a key role in the eradication of extreme poverty. In the past 10 years, about 280 million rural residents have been given access to safe drinking water. The area under effective irrigation has reached 1.037 billion mu (69.1 million hectares), and tap water has reached 84% of rural residents.
The past 10 years have also seen the Chinese people make water saving a priority, leading to major changes in the way people use water. Local authorities have worked hard to promote the idea of water conservation; children are taught in schools to save water.
China’s water consumption per 10,000 yuan (US$1,372.90) of GDP in 2021 had decreased by 45% compared with 2012, and water use for irrigation has also improved efficiency.
The first phase of the East and Middle Routes of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has been completed, and the follow-up projects are being built at an accelerated speed.
The supply capacity of national water conservancy projects increased from 700 billion cubic meters in 2012 to 890 billion cubic meters in 2021, while the total water consumption in the country has remained basically stable. China provides safe drinking water to nearly 20% of the world’s population with just 6% of the world’s freshwater. Not only that, despite its scarce water resources, China accounts for more than 18% of the world’s economic aggregate.
The past decade has also seen the authorities carry out the mother river recovery action plan, design unique preservation policies for individual rivers and introduce river chiefs and lake chiefs to be in charge of the water bodies.
About 1.2 million river chiefs have been appointed nationwide.
In the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the government has introduced the policy of “thorough protection, but partial exploitation,” which has been embraced by the local people. The ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin has become part of the national strategy.
Not just the number of disasters caused by heavy downpours and floods has been largely reduced, but the ecology and environment of rivers and lakes have greatly improved.
In short, in the past 10 years, China’s capability to prevent floods, deal with droughts, save water, optimize the allocation of water resources, and protect the ecology of large rivers and lakes has significantly improved, helping enhance people’s sense of gain and happiness.
All that said, China still needs to further improve its flood-control system, launch more national water network projects, preserve the ecological environment of rivers and lakes, and continue its effort in water saving to build a modern socialist country in all respects.