According to Chinanews.cn on February 20, Wang Shucheng, minister of water resources, said that although the country had made major advances in the use and protection of water resources four issues remained and had to be tackled in 2006. He gave his thoughts in a Study Times interview.

The four issues are:

-- The difficulties being encountered because of water shortages and an ever-increasing demand on resources.

Over the past five years China has made steady progress in alerting the country to the potential problem and encouraged people to be more careful in their use of water.   

Both the Yellow River and Heihe River Basins have put in place water controls. Seventeen provinces have adopted water quota management schemes and ten have introduced a "tiered system" for water pricing. Ningxia and Inner Mongolia have introduced "inter-industry" water rights transfers.

However, concerns about water resources remain serious. The per capita share of water resource in China is 2,200 cubic meters, about one quarter of world's average. It is estimated that there is an actual water shortage of 40 billion cubic meters in a normal year.

In some areas of China, especially the big cities, the water requirement has gone beyond what is readily available. Problems in filling the growing gap between water availability and actual needs have not yet been resolved.

-- The country's flood control system requires significant improvement. Although much work has already been done on this, there remains a great deal more to do. Measures to assist in prevention and warning systems require to be enhanced.

-- Difficulties being encountered between sustainable development, water pollution and soil erosion.

Around 540,000 square kilometers of historical water and soil losses have been recovered. This is 310,000 square kilometers more than in the period between  1996-2000.

But the annual amount of wastewater discharged is increasing annually with water pollution becoming a serious problem. There remains significant room for improvement in several areas.

Improved monitoring and management of water use was required along with better management of sewage discharge outlets.

-- Dealing with problems in rural areas

Water supply capacity has been increased by 27 billion cubic meters and areas of irrigation have been increased by 23 million mu throughout the country (mu is a Chinese unit of measurement equivalent to 1/15 of a hectare or 1/6 of an acre). The farmland coverage by new water saving irrigation schemes has been increased by more than 74 million mu and the problems of unsafe drinking water are being addressed and have already been solved for many.

Nevertheless, one third of irrigated areas are low to medium yield farmland with ageing equipment. Agricultural production remains wholly reliant on the right type of weather appearing at the right time of year.

And still many farmers don't have access to clean water and all too often what is available can actually cause them and their families severe health problems.

(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, February 21, 2006)