After numerous futile appeals for sensible water use,
authorities have finally made up their minds to let money do the
talking.
The Ministry of Construction announced yesterday that the
government will spend more than 1 trillion yuan (US$125 billion) in
the next five years on water supply, sewage treatment, water
recycling, drainage and pollution control.
Furthermore, an across-the-board surcharge for sewage treatment
will be incorporated into water prices.
That may not be a welcome message: The sizeable number of urban
poor raises affordability concerns.
However, there appears to be no alternative, as it may well be
the only way to make sure the nation's water pains are felt by
everyone.
In the unchanging context of overall deficiency, China is
haunted by a constant feed of bad news about droughts and floods,
each and every year.
But these messages barely raise a concern among those outside
disaster zones. The mammoth project to divert water from the south
to the north and increasingly sophisticated artificial
precipitation technologies may even give the illusion that we are
strong enough to defy destiny's ire.
Technology and growing financial power is indeed changing the
historical rule that people concentrate near water sources. We are
actually dictating water's whereabouts to our liking.
But nothing can offset the disastrous consequences of our
spendthrift mode of water use.
We cannot overlook the grim picture the Ministry of Construction
painted yesterday at a press conference to coincide with World
Water Week, which began on Monday in Stockholm, Sweden. The water
environment in urban China is deteriorating, we were warned.
Instead of blaming it on the obvious problem of general
shortage, the ministry pointed the finger at pollution, most
noticeably domestic, industrial and agricultural sewage.
The real trouble is that not all the water that flows in our
rivers, lakes and even underground can be used to quench our dry
throats, factories and cropland.
Pollution is looming large on the horizon like an environmental
cancer.
Since it is our inappropriate mode of consumption that has
caused us all the trouble, this is where solutions should be
found.
In Stockholm, people are discussing the benefits, cost and
responsibilities surrounding water. We, too, need to put these into
perspective.
Imposing a surcharge earmarked exclusively for sewage disposal,
0.8 yuan (US$0.1) a ton, sounds a lot better than a blanket rise in
water price. It is important to tell everybody in explicit terms
that you will pay what you deserve to pay.
Our cities are expected to enter their fastest stage of growth
during the 11th Five Year Plan (2006-10). This will mean
backbreaking pressures on our water systems.
It is intolerable that almost 300 cities have not yet built
their own sewage treatment facilities, and that more than 50 such
plants are running considerably under capacity, or simply lying
idle.
If all residents pay for sewage treatment, every city must have
decent infrastructure and services to justify such charges.
(China Daily August 23, 2006)