The safe use of water resources and the improvement of food
control, grain security and eco-environment will be key if China is
to enjoy a sustainable economic and social development in this
century.
“China hopes to realize such a strategy through greater
international cooperation with world elites in hydraulics in the
years ahead because the issues facing China are also problems
challenging the world today,” Suo Lisheng, vice-minister of water
resources, said at the opening ceremony of the 29th congress of the
International
Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research (IAHR) in
Beijing Monday.
The congress with a general theme of “21st century: the new era for
hydraulic research and its applications,” was the first ever held
in China and attracted some 800 scholars and researchers from more
than 50 countries and regions.
For this week China has become the focus of water-related research
and its applications in the world with the gathering of so many
professionals of hydraulics.
Interviewing members of the IAHR council, minister of water
resources Wang Shucheng confirmed China will build the long-awaited
project to divert water from the Yangtze River in the south to the
north to curb persistent and worsening droughts that have plagued
that area of China for years.
Instead of only building large water-control works, the government
will focus on the protection and sustainable use of water
resources.
Meanwhile, the country has decided to prevent key water problems
like floods, droughts and pollution, from worsening and affecting
the environment in following years.
Wang also made it clear that, in the next five to 10 years, most of
China’s large and key industrial cities will be capable of
withstanding the worst floods that occur every 50 to 100 years
through improvements in their flood-control infrastructure.
Wang pledged to intensify water-saving efforts to prevent more
water from being wasted, particularly irrigation water.
Farming irrigation has consumed more than 70 percent of China’s
total water supply. But only 43 percent of the water -- or 5
percent below the world average -- was used effectively.
By
the year of 2010, Wang is confident at least 50 percent of China’s
irrigation water can be used effectively with the adoption of more
water-efficient irrigation technologies.
By
2030, Wang said he wished the utilization rate of irrigation water
would reach 65 percent to ensure grain security for a large
population.
China has to feed a record 1.6 billion people by then without
increasing water use in irrigation, experts said.
(chinadaily
0918/2001) )