Information system for water resources to be set up
May 31, 2012 Category Environment, Pollution
A nationwide information management system for water resources will be set up within the next three years to improve China’s ability to monitor rising water consumption and deteriorating water quality. The system, with a total investment of CNY1.8 billion, will establish 14,000 water monitoring sites throughout the country to collect local information on water consumption and water quality. Analysts said the lack of sufficient water quality monitoring hindered the country’s ability to mitigate damage triggered by chemical spills. By 2030, more than 95% of key rivers and reservoirs with specific functions, such as providing drinking water, expected to be up to standard on quality, a sharp increase from 46% in 2011. Also, China plans to contain total water consumption to less than 700 billion cubic meters a year by 2030. The country currently consumes more than 600 billion cu m of water a year, or about three-quarters of its exploitable water resources. The average amount of water resources available per capita in China is only 2,100 cu m, or about 28% of the world’s average. About two-thirds of Chinese cities suffer from water shortages, while nearly 300 million rural residents lack access to safe drinking water. About 17% of drinking water in urban areas fails to meet quality standards when it leaves the factory. Newly revised standards will be applied to all of China on July 1, Shao Yisheng, Director of the Monitoring Center said. The new standards raises the number of water quality indicators from 35 to 106, making it closer to international standards. Shao admitted that only 58.2% of the water tested between 2008 and 2009 by the Center in urban areas met quality standards. Many water treatment plants in cities are not ready to implement the new standards because they lack equipment or the personnel needed to test all of the 106 water quality indicators, Ma Jun, Director of the Institute for Public and Environment Affairs said. “The key is to protect the water sources and keep tap water plants’ operation transparent,” Ma added.
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