A total of 110 advanced water technologies from 14 countries are on display at the water exposition in Beijing on April 17.

A total of 110 advanced water technologies from 14 countries are on display at today's water exposition in Beijing, a Ministry of Water Resources official said yesterday.

This year's expo, aimed at facilitating domestic and international water technology exchanges, is China's largest in scale to date, director of the ministry's science and technology promotion center Wu Wenxiang said.

"China now invests more energy and money in water conservation than any other country in the world," ministry official Cao Jinghua said.

The central government has invested about 500 million yuan (US$73 million) in 500 advanced water technologies since 1995. The current annual budget for importing these technologies is 40 million yuan, ministry statistics show.

China still needs more technological exchanges in the fields of environmental monitoring of water resources, construction of rural drinking water facilities, water project construction, and water and soil conservation.

More than 75 percent of the current water technology import programs began through the conference, the ministry said.

China bought two sets of equipment from Italy and the US at the 2005 expo, which they used in the south-to-north water diversion project.

"Since then, we have made several adjustments and improvements to the technology, innovating it to suit China's conditions," Cao said.

"We are providing a platform for experts, businessmen and officials from home and abroad to communicate."

(China Daily April 17, 2009)