The new water bill that will come into effect as of October 1 will integrate the management of water resources and stress the rational distribution, said Jing Zhengshu, vice-minister of water conservancy at a recent press conference.

He said that the separation of management in the urban and rural areas and the surface and underground water, a multiple-departmental management system, will gradually change.

The water resource management system will be reformed in the principle of separation of unified management from development, utilization and economy and protection of water resources and integration of river valley management with the administrative management. This helps establish the legal position of the river valley management, he said.

The bill strengthens the macro management of water resources. It sets up a series of legal systems and supervisory control for national water resource strategic planning, river valley planning, water resource feasibility study, long-term and intermediate-term water supply and demand planning, river volume distribution and water regulation plans for emergent dry seasons, annual water volume distribution plans and regulation plans.

The bill gives full scope to the economy of water and the raising of water use efficiency. River water use will be licensed and charged with a total and quota water volume control system in place.

The water economy practices that have been proven effective over the last few years are legally established. Water economy facilities must be built while a major construction project is undertaken, water-consuming backward work processes and installation are eliminated and the water consumed in excess of quota will be charged in a progressive way.

Jing Zhengshu said that the bill pays great attention to the coordination between water resource and population and between economic growth and eco-environment. It changes the previous scenario in which water pollution control is divorced from water resource comprehensive development and utility. A system of demarcation of water functional areas and a total pollutant discharge control system are established to ensure that river water quality protection is based on the bear ability of water resources.

(www.cenews.com.cn September 16, 2002)