With the water price due to increase in the southern city of Guangzhou this year, water quality is among the primary concerns for its residents.

"More importance should be attached to water quality after an increase of its price," Tan Shifang, a retired resident in the city, said at a water price hearing yesterday.

Sources with the city's price management department said early this month that a draft was completed for a progressive water pricing system for residents.

According to Liu Zansun, an official with the Guangzhou Tap Water Company, the company has seen a declining revenue for years because of the low water price, which has hampered the improvement of water quality.

Statistics show that the water price rates in Guangzhou are much lower than those of Beijing and Shanghai.

In Beijing and Shanghai, the water price for residential use currently stands at 3.7 yuan (45 US cents) and 1.03 yuan (12 US cents) respectively.

"The rise of the water price is expected to lead to increased revenues for the company and more investment in improving water quality as well," Liu said.

According to the proposed system, water price for residential use will likely rise from the present 0.9 yuan (11 US cents) to 1.24 yuan (15 US cents), or 1.32 yuan (16 US cents) each ton, if a family of four consumes 22 tons of water a month or less.

The pricing scheme is accumulative, which means the more you consume, the higher price you pay.

The plan will only be implemented among the 160,000 households whose water consumption can be recorded by the city's water company.

The Guangzhou Tap Water Company will invest more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$135.6 million) to install new devices to record water consumption for the remaining 1.16 million households in the next five years, according to Liu.

"The move is seen as one of the most effective methods to contain excessive water consumption in the city," Liu said.

Water prices for government institutions, industry, service sector and high water-consuming businesses like car washes are also expected to rise this year.

Some representatives, however, shared another view towards the new pricing system.

"What counts most importantly is that the water company and the government should develop saving- oriented water devices for residential and industrial uses," said He Jian'an, an official with the Guangzhou Consumer's Commission.

Such water conservation devices, He said, play an important role in containing excessive water consumption.

Official statistics show that more than 77.5 percent of Guangzhou households consumed less than 22 tons of water per month.

(China Daily September 27, 2005)