Beijing held a public hearing on Thursday about a proposed household water price increase. Aimed at promoting water-saving, it's welcomed by experts, who say China's overall water resources situation is serious.
 
Due to the ever increasing pressure on Beijing's water supply, the city's water resources administration, water supply company and sewage treatment company have proposed a price increase. According to the law, such a price hike should be subject to a public hearing. The size of the proposed increase is not yet known, but reports say the current price of 2.9 yuan per cubic meter might be doubled.

Prof. Shen Dajun, from a water research center in Beijing, says, such a price adjustment is very necessary for raising people's awareness of the need to save water.

He says the improvement of people's living standards, rapid urbanization and economic development have put ever increasing pressure on the water supply in Beijing. At present, the gap between sustainable supply and demand is about 800 million cubic meters a year. Per capita water resources in Beijing are only about one thirtieth the world average. So water saving is essential, and price is an effective lever for this.

Another reason for the price rise is the cost of wastewater treatment. Low charges for wastewater treatment has lad to insufficient treatment capacity, so much of Beijing's sewage and industrial wastewater flows directly into rivers.

Unfortunately, local people don't seem to take seriously the very real threat of having no water come out of the tap in the not-too-distant future, so water saving is still very difficult to promote.

Prof. Shen says although there are good policies and regulations concerning water exploitation, planning the use of water and water saving, implementation is difficult. He says one reason is the lack of public awareness. Another factor is the high cost of water saving projects, including infrastructure construction.
So Prof. Shen strongly welcomes the readjustment of water prices, saying people will only take impending water shortages seriously when it hits their pockets.

He says a well planned price rise won't affect the life of the poor, as higher prices will only be charged on consumption above a set quota, and usually only rich families and wasteful families would exceed that quota.
 
The expert says not only in Beijing, but also in the whole country, the water situation is serious, due to water pollution, water shortage, waste of water and poor management of water resources. He says, like energy and food, water has also become a factor restricting China's economic development.

(CRI June 4, 2004)