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Environmental Engineering and Management Journal July 2013, Vol.12, No. 7, 1311-1321
http://omicron.ch.tuiasi.ro/EEMJ/

“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Romania

CHINA’S WATER MANAGEMENT – CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Yanan Jiang1,2,3, Faith Ka Shun Chan2,3,4, Joseph Holden2,3, Yaqian Zhao5, Dabo Guan3,6
1
College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, P.R. China
2
School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
3
Water@Leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
4
The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 199 Taikang East Road, Ningbo, P.R. China
5
UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research, School of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, University
College Dublin, Ireland
6
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Abstract

China has experienced enormously rapid development since the open door policy introduced in 1979. Population has increased
by 30% to 1.3 billion, and the annual GDP growth rate was 9.8 % in the last few years. However, frequent water disasters in
recent years have caused significant damages to China’s regional growth and societies. There are huge contemporary challenges
for Chinese water resource management. In this paper, we examine three major challenges for China’s water resource
management, which are water scarcity, water pollution and flood management. We discuss some of China’s past management
strategies and its future water management plans which come with major new investment. China will be further developed during
this century and we provide some thoughts on water resource management that could be undertaken in China to increase
resilience in face of a capricious future.

Key words: China, climate extremes, flood risk, pollution, water resources management, water scarcity

Received: November 2012; Revised final: May, 2013; Accepted: June 2013

1. Introduction impacts on the mega-coastal cities of China

Management of China’s water resources is
highly challenging because of rapid population
growth (over 30% since 1979), rapid urbanization
and large areas of dense population, enhanced
expectations of standards of living, economic growth,
eastward migration, and a highly variable climate
which is difficult to forecast (Chong et al., 2012;
Hubacek et al., 2009; Varis and Vakkilainen, 2001).
The result is a situation of: i) water scarcity in many
areas which also impacts food security; ii) water
body deterioration/degradation; and iii) vulnerability
to climate extremes including droughts and floods,
and climate change impacts including global sea-
level rise and storm surges which can have major
(Nicholls, 1995; Varis et al., 2006).
China’s economy has been growing rapidly
since the “open door policy” which started in 1979
and the pace of growth increased after the industrial
expansion from the mid-1980s (Chen et al., 2011;
Feng et al., 2012; Guan et al., 2008). Within around
thirty years, China developed from a country with
heavy poverty and severe production inefficiencies to
become the 2nd largest economy in the world (Feng et
al., 2009). Inevitably, China has paid an enormous
price for its success in terms of environmental
degradation and natural resource depletion (Guan and
Hubacek, 2007; Yu, 2010). Along with all its
impressive achievements, China is facing severe
resource challenges, especially in water management.


Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: yananjiang@nwsuaf.edu.cn
 Jiang et al./Environmental Engineering and Management Journal 12 (2013), 7, 1311-1321
Economic reforms have transformed the
nation to enhance rapid urbanization and economic
development (Minx et al., 2012). For example, it
created job opportunities to attract large migration
from midele and west to the east and south.
Unfortunately, this rapid socio-economic movement
also creates huge challenges for water management,
such as freshwater consumption from industrial and
domestic users (Guan and Hubacek, 2008).
Many cities, particularly in coastal and deltaic
areas, are over-extracting groundwater resources to
fulfill their demands, resulting in severe land-
subsidence. Subsidence then acts as a catalyst for
increasing flood vulnerability by storms (e.g.
typhoons), surges and sea-level rise (Fuchs et al.,
2011; Syvitski, 2008). Groundwater abstraction and
subsidence in coastal areas and in China’s vast and
populous deltas also results in salt water intrusion
which has resulted in severe water shortages in some
years such as the Pearl River Delta problems in the
recent years from 2006 (Chen et al., 2009; Luo et al.,
2007; Xu et al., 2009). This phenomenon
demonstrates the interconnectedness of current water
problems in China. There is therefore an urgent need
for holistic water management strategies that tackle
the interconnected nature of water problems. The
Chinese government has been trying to solve water
scarcity and uneven water distributions between
different geographical regions in the country.
There are some large scale hydro-engineering
projects such as the South-North Water Transition
Project to relieve huge water demand and
consumption in the North. This project will deliver
more than 1.76 million m3, benefiting more than 325
million people in the North China Plain (Khan et al.,
2009). However, such water transfer projects also
create social and environmental problems including
population resettlement and adverse environmental
impacts which present huge challenges yet to be
tackled (Jiang, 2009).
In this paper, we present the three most
important water management challenges in China,
and traditional policy barriers to progress. Some
possible solutions provided by China’s new water
policies will be discussed and evaluated in terms of
alignment to tackling integrated water resource
challenges.
2. Three water management challenges
China’s sustainable development strategy
report (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2007)
indicated that 63% (420) of China’s 667 cities have
water shortages (water scarcity), 30% (200) have
extremely seriour water shortage problems, this
number was one sixth (110) back to 2003. According
to the latest Water Resources Bulletin (MWR, 2012)
35.8% of all the rivers are severely polluted and 71 of
all the 103 lakes suffer from eutrophication (nutrient
enrichment leading to blooms of aquatic plants at the
expense of other organisms). Water related disasters
such as the 1998 floods and 2010 droughts have
1312
caused large losses of life and property, as well as
damage to human wellbeing and the environment.
Water scarcity, water pollution and flooding are the
three major challenges for Chinese water
management. These three challenges have been
widely discussed (Jiang, 2009; Khan and Lui, 2006;
Lee, 2006; Liu and Raven, 2010; Liu and Yang,
2012). There are nearly 40 reports available from the
World Bank commenting on a range of China’s water
issues such as water pollution, water pricing,
ecological compensation, water rights, water
governance and strategy. The challenges of water
scarcity, water pollution and flooding are described
below.
2.1. Water scarcity
There are three indicators of quantity related
water scarcity in China: water shortages, water
resources overexploitation, and the effect of water
resource overexploitation on the environment.
China’s water shortages date back to the 1980s since
the fast economic development and rapid
urbanization strated and different scales and degrees
of water shortage problems have been emerging and
increasing until now (World Bank, 2007). As the
population is still increasing and the urbanization
process is still going very rapidly, the projected water
shortage problems will be even worse if this problem
was not taken seriously.
Nearly all (30 of 32) metropolitan citys (more
than 1 million population) have difficulties in
meeting their water demands (Li, 2006). China's total
water deficit could reach at 40-50 billion m3 by 2030.
The water shortage in the 3H basin areas (Huang
River – Yellow River, Huai River, Hai River) is
projected to be 56.5 billion m3 by 2050. Annually
water shortages in the 420 water scarcity cities alone
have caused 200 billion RMB economic loss.
Scarce water has been overexploited in North
China (Feng et al., 2012b). In 2010, North China
obtained 81.1% of its water supply from surface
water and 18.4% from groundwater. In terms of
water development ratio (the ratio between water
supply and water availability) these range from 25%
to 120% (the high figure is for the Hai River in 2010)
for basins in the north compared to rates of 18 to
66% in South China (MWR, 2012).
Surface water overexploitation has reduced in-
stream flows and caused negative impacts on the
aquatic ecosystems. For example, 40% (about 4000
km) of the watercourses in the Hai River basin have
dried up and 194 natural lakes disappeared (Wang,
2000). The annual average discharge (from rivers to
the ocean) nationwide has substantially decreased
from 24 billion m3 in the 1950s to 1 billion m3 in
2001 (Xia et al., 2007). River flow in the Yellow
River has decreased 51% since the 1950s (Wang and
Jin, 2006; Fan et al., 2006). In 1997, the lower reach
of the Yellow River had no flow for more than 226
consecutive days; the length of the main channel with
no flow was 700 km which accounts for 90% of the
 China’s water management – challenges and solutions
river course in the lower reach (Feng et al., 2012b;
Wang and Jin, 2006). As a result the Yellow River
Delta has become more fragile and susceptible to
natural hazards (Deng and Jin, 2000; Fan et al., 2006;
Huang and Fan, 2004; Lin, 2001).
Groundwater has been severely over
abstracted. Since 1980, regions with over extraction
of groundwater have increased from 56 to 164, with
the total area increased from 87,000 km2 to 180,000
km2 (MWR, 2007b). A percent of 70 (or 90,000 km2)
of the North China Plain has been affected by over
extracting groundwater (Liu and Yu, 2001). As a
result, there have been two additional negative
environmental effects: seawater intrusion and ground
subsidence. Falling groundwater tables in coastal
regions could break the balance between freshwater
and seawater and cause seawater intrusion problems.
According to the State Oceanic Administration
People’s Republic of China (SOA, 2013) seawater
intrusions has occurred in 9 coastal provinces
(Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu,
Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hainan, Guangxi) with the
longest instrusion distance 32.1 km in Shouguang
city Shandong province, covering a total area of 2000
km2. Ground subsidence is another problem caused
by groundwater over abstraction. According to
Shalizi (2006) ground subsidence was observed in
northern and eastern China. In major cities like
Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai the subsidence coule
be several meters. It is estimated that from 2007-
2011 21 billion RMB has been invested in Shanghai
to prevent or overcome this problem. The drop in
water table is also associated in many old urban
centres with oxidation of organic deposits which
decays them and also leads to subsidence (An et al.,
2012; Holden et al., 2006).
In future, climate change may make the
situation even worse as areas where water is scarce
will become even drier. In the Yellow River basin,
average temperatures have increased while
precipitation and river runoff have decreased over the
past 50 years (Fu et al., 2004; Xia et al., 2004; Yang
et al., 2004). In the past 20 years, climate change has
decreased water resources in northern China. In
addition, the loss of glaciers and wetlands from the
Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has decreased river runoff
by 917 billion m3 in total over the past 50 years and
will lead to an annual loss of 143 billion m3 in the
future (An et al., 2006). At the same time, China’s
water demand may increase by 6.5%, 32%, and 35%
(2003-2020) from agriculture, industry, and
residential users, respectively.
By year of 2050 even considering the
necessary water saving measures such as improving
water use efficiency in agriculture and industry, the
total water demand will increase from 570.2 to 832.3
billion m3, with the industrial water demand may still
increase from 66.5 to 343.6 billion m3, while the
agricultural water demand hopefully will decrease
from 484.8 to 415.7 billion m3. At the same time
residential water demand will increase from 18.9 to
73 billion m3 (Liu and He, 2000). So it can be
predicted that in future China will face even more
severe water scarcity challenges.
2.2. Water pollution
Water pollution is another water challenge
which needs to be addressed. China’s lakes and
reservoirs have been experiencing accelerated
eutrophication and degraded water quality (Jin et al.,
2005). Chinese authorities classify water quality into
five grades (from the best quality at Grade I to the
worst quality at V) based on the purposes of use and
protection targets. Based on this classification, water
quality is being monitored on a regular basis in
almost 500 monitored stations through national and
provincial water monitoring centers. According to the
2011 Water Resources Bulletin (MWR, 2012), of all
the 103 monitored lakes, 58.8% met the standards at
good water quality (Grade I to III) and 41.2% were
ranked poor (Grade IV & V). The three major lakes
including Tai, Chao, and Dianchi are the most
polluted lakes in the country with water quality even
below Grade V. As for the river water quality only
64.2% of monitored river water was in categories I to
III, while as much as 22.9% was in the worst two
categories (MWR, 2012). More than 40% of China’s
rivers are severely polluted and more than 50% of its
lakes suffer from eutrophication (Liu and Yang,
2012).
There are several severe consequences of
water pollution. It causes water quality related
scarcity. This kind of water scarcity has occurred in
northern and eastern China. Shanghai, located
downstream on the Yangtze River and the Lake Tai
basin, has its water polluted from upstream and the
local area around the lake (Wang et al., 2010).
Zhejiang Province faces the same problem: water
scarcity here is not because of a lack of water to use,
but poor quality renders water unusable. Qu and Fan
(2010) noticed the river pollution in urban rivers are
particularly difficult to control, now up to 80% of
urban rivers in China have been contaminated to
varying degrees by pollutants such as nitrogen,
phosphorous, organic compounds, and heavy metals.
According to World Bank (2007), 25 billion m3 of
water was not used because of poor water quality
from 2000 to 2003. 10% (47 billion m3) of China’s
total water supply (563.3 billion m3) in 2005 came
from degraded supplies, which means they can not
meet the before-treatment quality. Degraded water
quality has caused serious impacts on both society
and economic. In 2003 poor water quality alone has
caused at least 158 billion RMB (World Bank, 2007).
2.3. Flood management
Floods in the large river basins, coastal low-
lying areas and megacities (population commonly
more than 8 million) are major problems. China has a
long history of facing floods. Jun and Chen (2001)
reported the country suffered large scale severe
flooding more than 1000 times from 206 BC to 1949
1313
 Jiang et al./Environmental Engineering and Management Journal 12 (2013), 7, 1311-1321
AD. Zhang (1999) reported more than 2000 lives lost
from 1990 to 1999 and the monetary figure was over
800 billion RMB (1 USD roughly equals to 6.4
RMB) from flood disasters, equivalent to 20% of
total revenue for that period. There are two main
reasons why China suffers in the face of big floods:
(i) natural factors (i.e. climate, topography, etc.) and
(ii) human induced factors (i.e. populations and
urbanization).
2.3.1 Natural drivers of flooding
The natural factors to influence flooding in
China include the monsoon climate from the Pacific
Ocean, topography and the geomorphology (e.g.
sediment flux and drainage capacity) of major rivers
(i.e. Yangtze River, Yellow River and Pearl River).
For example, more than 1800 mm with about 80% of
annual rainfall falls between May to September
during the wet season in the Pearl River Delta (PRD).
The Yangtze River Delta also records more than
1100 mm in the summer season (Gu et al., 2011),
while some heavy rainstorms could produce over 400
mm rainfall in 24 hours (Lee et al., 2010). These
climatic conditions cause serious urban floods if
cities do not have well-equipped stormwater drainage
systems. The Beijing urban flood event on 21 July
2012, with more than 300 mm of rainfall in one day,
caused 37 deaths with pluvial flood damage claimed
to be because of a lack of an up-to-date urban
drainage capacity (Nan, 2012). Large scale fluvial
floods in the Yangtze River Basin during monsoon
periods have resulted in the inundation of cities like
Wuhan (Jun and Chen, 2001). The 1998 floods saw
29 provinces flooded, 21.2 million ha land inundated
and an astonishing total of 223 million people losing
their homes. The direct economic loss was more than
166.6 million RMB. The indirect damage to wider
economies is not measurable at moment.
The coastline of China is about 18,000 km
(Fuchs et al., 2011) and many megacities like
Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shenzhen in the PRD,
Shanghai in the YRD, Qingdao nearby the Yellow
River Delta and Tianjin occur in coastal areas.
Recent research predicts that most of these Chinese
coastal cities will suffer from enhanced flood risk to
massive populations and economic assets over the
coming 60 years (Nicholls et al., 2008). Coastal
flooding usually results from typhoons and storm
surges. Recorded storm surges can cause tides higher
than 1 to 3 metres above the normal high tide level in
Guangdong Province (Zhang et al., 2011). More than
3720 km2 low-lying flood prone areas in the PRD are
currently vulnerable to coastal inundation (Syvitski et
al., 2009). Low-lying coastal areas in Hong Kong
such as Tai O town and Shengwan business district
were inundated three times by storm surges between
2006 and 2012 which caused substantial economic
loss. Lu and Yao (2006) reported Typhoon YunNa in
2004 caused storm surges more than 3 metres above
the peak tide level along the Zhejiang coast in YRD,
sea walls were breached in more than 1200 locations
damaging more than 42,300 ha of farmlands, 3,000
1314
fishing boats and 200 docks; more than 467,000
people were evacuated.
Global sea-level rise and frequency of surges
are predicted to create further impacts to coastal
areas in China. Sea-level is predicted to rise between
200 – 300mm in the Guangdong and PRD region by
2030 (Zhang, 2009), 380mm in Shanghai area and
about 340mm in Jiangsu Province (Gu et al., 2011).
Salt water intrusion is also likely to increase as a
result of sea-level rise (Mimura and Kawaguchi,
2011), contaminating groundwater and freshwater
supplies, and particularly threatening coastal cities
which rely highly on groundwater resources such as
Shanghai and Tianjin.
2.3.2. The human-induced drivers of flooding
Since the economic boom started in the 1980s,
most of the south and east coast deltaic regions in
China have been developed as Special Economic
Zones (SEZs) (Yeung, 2011) to provide special tax
rates for foreign companies and attract foreign
investment. The SEZs such as Shenzhen have good
logistical advantages (e.g. international ports, railway
terminals and airports) aiding international
cooperation (Chan et al., 2012). These places provide
good employment and education opportunities to
attract a large amount of human resources, enhancing
internal migration towards the south and east coast in
China (Bailey, 2010).
Taking the Pearl River Delta as an example,
we note that the population in 1979 with its 11 cities
including Hong Kong and Macau was not greater
than 15 million, while now it is about 60 million
(Yeung, 2010). Shenzhen was a fishing town before
1979 with about 100,000 people. Shenzhen is now a
megacity with a population of about 8 million,
alongside nearby Guangzhou (12 million) and Hong
Kong (7.5 million) (Ng et al., 2011). All of the rest of
PRD’s cities are currently with at least 3 million
population (Yeung, 2010), and the delta is
transforming to be the most populous delta in East
Asia with a population of more than 120 million by
2050 (UN-HABITAT, 2008). There is a similar
pattern in the YRD area with more than 97 million
people. Shanghai (15.7 million) is the most important
economic hub in the YRD region and more than 24
cities in the YRD have more than 1 million people.
The region also accounts for 17.5% of the whole
country’s GDP with 4.3 trillion RMB in 2008; the
GDP per capita was more than 44,468 RMB (2 times
higher than the national average level) (Ge et al.,
2011). Gu and Han (2010) also reported on the other
large coastal economic zone – Bohai Economic Rim,
with megacities such as Beijing (18 million), Tianjin
(10 million), Qingdao (7.3 million) along with
another 8 cities with at least 1 to 6 million people
(e.g. Jinan, Dalian, Shenyang, etc).
The Rim, with more than 75 million people,
contributes over 4710 billion RMB GDP with more
than 62,000 RMB GDP per capita. All three mega
economic zones in China are closely located in
coastal flood prone areas. While these areas are
 China’s water management – challenges and solutions
naturally flooded frequently, the rate of population
and economic growth, plus future climate change
impacts, means that the new flood risk in these areas
will be a massive challenge to manage (Fuchs et al.,
2011; McGranahan et al., 2007). Seto (2011)
cautioned that current practice and policy may not be
enough to cope with such fast urbanization rates in
Asian mega-deltas including the YRD, PRD and
Bohai Economic Rim. Chan et al. (2012) found about
7 Chinese coastal cities (Guangzhou, Shanghai,
Tianjin, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Qingdao and Hong
Kong) are ranked at the top 20 global port cities that
exposed to coastal flood impacts with population and
economic assets.
The Research Team of China Climate Change
Country Study (1999) estimated that a sea-level rise
of 300mm accompanied by a 1-in-100 years storm
surge would cost more than 231 billion RMB
economic losses and inundate more than 80% of the
PRD area (6,520 km2) (Zhang, 2009). Like other
coastal areas in China, the PRD is highly reliant on
hard engineering infrastructure (e.g. dikes and
embankments) for flood protection. Cai et al. (2011)
doubted that most of the protection measures in the
region would cope with a 1-in-100 years flood return
period, particularly with sea-level rise over the next
60 years.
Rapid urbanization in coastal areas enlarges
flood risk because flood water storage capacity is
reduced by massive land-use change and land
subsidence. The PRD, for example, has increased
urbanized land from 29.5% in 1982 to 80% in 2010
(Chan et al., 2012). Recent reclamation project along
the PRD coastline (i.e. Shenzhen Bay area) has
reflected land scarcity in the region. However, the
authority has removed some parts of the wetland (i.e.
mangroves) area to reclaim (Zhou and Cai, 2010),
which may further reduce water storage from tidal
changes and resulting higher vulnerability to the new
developed infrastructures. Shi et al. (2007) reported
such urbanization has largely declined the soil
infiltration, water storage capacity and increased the
surface runoff. As a result the maximum flood
discharge has increased nearly 12.9% on average
over the past two decades. Such development rates
also enhance long-term over extraction of
groundwater, especially in the coastal megacities like
Tianjin and Shanghai which lack freshwater
resources (Hu et al., 2004). The groundwater levels
in these areas have been substantially decreased with
associated land subsidence.
Tang et al. (2008) reported the coastal area in
Shanghai has subsidence rates in some places over 2
m since the 1960s. Most cities in the YRD such as
Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Nantong, Hangzhou and
Nanjing have all subsided by 0.5 to 1m.
3. Traditional water resource management
The spatial and temporal distribution of water
resources is not consistent with socio-economic
water needs which cause conflict between water
supply and demand. Poor water resource
management makes the situation even worse. In
China water was managed by multiple government
agencies at different authoritative levels. Lack of
effective coordination and cooperation among them
led to a fragmented system which could not manage
water resources effectively. China's water resources
administration was divided between the State
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA)
and the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR). SEPA
was responsible for controlling water pollution, while
the MWR was responsible for water resources
planning, including designating water functional
zones for different uses and establishing
corresponding water quality standards.
The coordination between them was severely
inadequate which means water quantity and water
quality was managed by different authorities which
impeded efficient water resource management.
Integrated water resources management based on
river basins has been commonly accepted as an
effective approach for managing water resources. In
China although commissions for major rivers and
lakes were established to promote integrated
management, they had limited power to allocate
water resources, coordinate water resource
exploitation and conservation, and enforce water
resource planning at the basin level. The authority
and responsibilities among these government
agencies was not clear enough, and this undermined
their ability to regulate water resources management,
which led directly to a water resources management
largely based on political boundaries rather than on
watersheds, which amplifies these issues.
China’s water resources management is still
driven by water supplies which ignores the economic
nature of water resources. With economic
development and population growth, this passive
management with no restrictions on water demand
has led to inefficient water use. For example, in
2003, China's water use per 10,000 GDP was 4.5
times that of most developed countries. China's
average recycling rate of industrial water use was
estimated to be 40-50% which is low compared to
80% in developed countries (CAS, 2007). In
agriculture, as indicated by CAS (2007) and Zhang et
al. (2007), the ratio of actual irrigation water
consumption to the amount diverted is only 0.45
which is far below the level of 0.7 to 0.8 in
developed countries.
China does not have a water rights system
which can promote effective water resource
management. Jiang (2009) attributed much of the
water use inefficiency and the current water scarcity
in China to this issue. Back to 2000 strengthening
water rights development has started such as revising
the water law and issuing policy guidance (FAO,
2001), however until now water rights are still
incomplete by modern standards. Efficient and
effective systems have not been established to
manage the three components of water rights: the
amounts that can be withdrawn, transferred, and must
1315
 Jiang et al./Environmental Engineering and Management Journal 12 (2013), 7, 1311-1321
be returned with certain quality. Initial water rights
based on water allocation have not been completed,
rules and methods regards to sustainable water
allocation are still in complete and legal delineation
about water withdrawal permits is unclear. Not all
water uses are measured and managed by permits.
Water withdrawal permits are not consistent with
water allocation due to lack of coordination
mechanism exists within basins. Water rights trading
has taken place and efficient water resources
allocation was improving, however water rights
trading was still largely based on administrative
commands instead of water markets, as a result the
scale of water rights trading was relatively small and
inefficient.
Relatively low water price does not place
incentives to end water users to conserve water.
China’s water prices were set through a political
administration instead of by market, so the price is
relatively low. Water prices were purposely set low
and are insufficient to cover the full cost of water
supply. It is estimated that current household
expenditures for water only account for about 1.2%
of disposable income. This percentage is lower than
the 2% level that stimulates water-saving behavior
and is much lower than the 4% in developed
countries (Zhang et al., 2007). These low water
prices provide little or no incentives to save water.
In addition to the issues mentioned above,
policies are not well integrated with each other and
may exacerbate water resource issues. Many policies,
including urban planning, industrial development
policy, agricultural policy, etc., can have indirect
effects on water resources. If these potential effects
are not accounted for, policy outcomes will likely be
inconsistent with the carrying capacities of local
water systems. The present discrepancy in the
distribution of socio-economic development and
water resources is a typical example of policy failure
to consider water resources.
4. Solutions to water challenges
4.1. Solutions to water scarcity and water pollution
The characteristics of China’s water resources
determine that huge hydraulic engineering
programmes need to be implemented to maintain
China’s socio-economic development. Therefore the
first solution is to change the natural water
availability via engineering measures. There have
been quite a lot of achievements: (1) by building
reservoirs and dykes China now has a flood control
system for key rivers; (2) the total irrigated land
reached 60 million ha which supports national food
security; (3) China now has 660 billion m3 total water
supply capacity which provides water for
industrialization, urbanization and socio-economic
development; (4) China now has very large sacle of
water transfer projects under construction.
To improve water resources management
through engineering is a cost-effective option that
1316
can alleviate China’s water scarcity. However, there
are several suggestions with regards to this option.
First, a clearly defined legally enforceable water
rights system need to be developed which can make
the regulation of water withdrawal and use
effectively and efficiently, an institutional system is
recommended. Second, a water market where the
water rights can be traded is necessary to improve
water use efficiency. Comparing expensive
engineering measures this approcach is another quite
cheap and potential way. Third, sustainable water
resource management need to play a very important
role in a near future, so research-based, data-driven
decision support systems, and information system
should be paid more attention in future government
plans.
Integrated water resource management
(IWRM) could be a useful approach. China has
begun to adopt IWRM concepts. China has been
working together with the European Union (EU) to
enhance IWRM through EU-China river basin
management programs through which China will
share EU’s experience and best practices. IWRM can
enhance the integration of flood management and
environmental management objectives. Appraisals of
environmental impacts during planning and design of
future flood management schemes should be
conducted to minimize adverse environmental
impacts but also to enhance environmental (i.e.
nature and biodiversity) and social (i.e. water supply,
recreation in flood retention or wetlands) outcomes.
Liu and Yang (2012) have proposed some
policy recommendations: (1) Integrated monitoring
and proactive measures: Indicators that directly and
indirectly drive water quantity and quality changes
should be monitored. Ministries should expand
monitoring to indicators in human dimensions (e.g.,
values and attitudes toward water, land use, and
development). (2) Integrating social sciences: China
should integrate natural sciences and technology with
social sciences which may help in predicting water
demand and long-term effects of China’s water plan,
and could lead to positive changes in human
behaviors. (3) Enhancing international cooperation:
China’s water plan should consider both virtual water
and real water trade.
4.2. Flood management
The most common practice in China - flood
engineering protection - is expensive and
unprecedented urbanization in flood prone areas has
meant that Chinese authorities have been unable to
keep pace with the risk. Therefore, a long term, more
resilient, cost effective and sustainable flood risk
management strategy is needed in Chinese
megacities and nationwide.
Flooding is a natural process but it can be
exacerbated by land management. In China agencies
often only deal with regional, city or town planning
development issues rather than integrate catchment-
based flood issues. In the United Kingdom, where
 China’s water management – challenges and solutions
this was also true, more than 8 million properties
were built on the floodplains and frequently suffer
from coastal and inland fluvial floods because urban
development and town planning were misplaced in
high flood risk areas (Pitt, 2008). The UK
government has improved the practice with
implementing flood risk appraisal practice, such as
inclusion of Policy Planning Statement 25 (PPS25) to
modify flood hazard and the possible exposure of
flood risk in planning practice. This means the
private developer or public authority is obliged to
assess possible flood risk before submitting any new
development proposals. The practice has also
addressed the potential flood risk impact in the
proposed development area for different stages (after
10, 25, 50 and 100 years) to ensure the development
plans are able to be resilient, sustainable and
adaptable to uncertain climatic changes (McLean and
Watson, 2009). Therefore, in China, the Ministry of
Water Resources (MWR) may possibly consider
reform and merge the flood management section with
the planning authority or establish working
partnerships between two Bureaus to coordinate
ongoing flood management planning and implement
flood management into the land-use management
policy.
Soft flood protection measures such as flood
forecasting, flood risk mapping and hazard zoning
systems, multi approach decision support systems,
flood warning systems, and flood emergency and
excavation plans can effectively mitigate flood risk,
reduce casualties and economic losses around the
world (Plate, 2007; Meyer et al., 2009; Harvey et al.,
2009; Kreibich et al., 2011; Gersonius et al., 2011).
Cheng (2006) agreed that China should apply these
soft measures.
In fact, measures like flood forecasting have
been implemented since the 1980s in China but the
accuracy of the forecasting system could be
improved with more precise data monitoring
networks and up-to-date hydraulic modelling
methodologies (i.e. two-dimensional hydraulic
models in Shenzhen River) (Chan and Lee, 2010).
The forecasting procedure can be connected with
flood mapping to provide more detail about extents
of inundation impacts. Such practices have been
applied in the EU Floods Directive (Marchi et al.,
2010).
Broader application of flood risk mapping is
required in China as this measure provides enormous
support to non-structural flood protection measures
which includes land-use management, community
awareness and preparedness, and potential flood
insurance schemes; as well as emergency excavation
plans. Government officials and decision makers can
then build a decision support system from these
advanced and accurate flood risk maps and
forecasting information. The public (community) can
be alerted by flood risk mapping and forecasting
systems to raise their awareness of flood risk and
encourage their engagement with flood preparation
and emergency excavation plans (White et al., 2010).
Ma et al. (2010) reported that non-structural
flood protection measures including flood
information collection, warning systems, planning of
disaster prevention and emergency response or
excavation plans have been enhanced in the
mountainous parts of China to reduce impacts of
flash floods, as it is difficult to cover such huge area
of 4630,000 km2 for the 556 million populations by
building flood protection infrastructure.
The UK Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) has
suggested that it is impossible to avoid any kind of
fluvial flood risk under uncertain climatic regimes
from a flood engineering perspective.
They suggested “living with rivers” to all
governmental officials (Fleming, 2002) which
equates to allowing rivers to flood, but adapting and
becoming resilient to flooding. People may need to
learn to accept some degree of flood risk in return for
the benefits to be derived from using land subject to
flood risk.
Floods are periods of renewal for nature and
are a natural land-forming process to sustain many
aquatic ecosystems and benefit biodiversity.
Therefore, flood engineers and planners should
consider if alternative land could be used as flood
retention and ensure that building developments are
designed to cope with floods in flood prone areas
(e.g. buildings with car parks on the ground floor
which are easily evacuated during floods; but living
space higher above likely flood levels).
5. China’s new water policy
The Chinese government is aware of the
challenges and has started to reform water resources
management to address these issues. However due to
complexity, the challenge is still severe. Within its
11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) a series of policy
goals and priorities for water resource management
was proposed under the direction of “scientific
development” and “harmonious society” which is the
general goals and guiding principles for the whole
plan (State Council, 2006). Policy objectives for
water resource management was established such as
strengthening river basin management, improving
water use efficiency in agriculture, protecting
drinking water sources and increasing the urban
sewage treatment rate etc (State Council, 2006). The
11th Five-Year Plan for Water Resources
Development includes both action plans and methods
for implementation (MWR, 2007b), such as
expediting water allocation, developing water rights
systems, implementing quota and demand-side
management, and improving water use efficiency and
benefits (Geng et al., 2011), more importantly it
reflected a strategic shift towards sustainable water
resource development.
In January 2011, the government’s annual
“No. 1 Document,” which reflects its top priorities,
outlined a plan to expedite water conservancy
development and reform and to achieve sustainable
use and management of water resources within this
1317
 Jiang et al./Environmental Engineering and Management Journal 12 (2013), 7, 1311-1321
decade. The plan includes total investment of four
trillion Yuan (U.S. dollar 635 billion) to solve water
problems in the next 10 years. This plan has huge
significance for the whole nation and sets goals,
policies and tasks for the next 10 years. This
document states: (1) Water is the origin for life, the
vital element for production and the foundation for
ecology; (2) Water is of the characteristics of public
interests, basic and strategic functions. In future the
Chinese government will focus on the following
issues: (1) highlight the safety and quality of people’s
livelihood; (2) emphasize equality of public water
services; (3) focus on improvement of vulnerable
aspects in respect to water; (4) pay more attention to
sustainable use of water; (5) implement strict water
management; (6) construct a water-saving society;
(7) protect water resources; (8) create compatibility
between bearing capacity of water resources and the
economy; (9) enhance capacity building for
organizations; (10) promote participation of the
public in water management.
The No. 1 document of the 12th Five-Year
Plan (2011-2015) (State Council, 2011) has resulted
in some actions to achieve the overall goals outlined
above. These include: (1) Establish a flood and
drought control and relief system. (2) Establish a
reasonable water resources allocation and highly
efficient water-use system. (3) Establish a system to
protect water resources and secure the health of
aquatic ecosystems. (4) Establish a system and
mechanism that facilitates the development of water
conservancy. Detailed information has been
translated which can be acquired via
https://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2012/08/0
8/337.6095.649.DC1/1219471.Liu.SM.pdf
One of the additional ways forward is to
integrate different components of the water
challenges solutions. For example, turning
floodwater and its pollutant load into a resource for
water supply or fertilisers would be a potentially
“win-win” strategy. Therefore the Chinese authorities
seek to develop integrated infrastructure that serves
multiple functions such as flood control, water
storage and water treatment and re-use facilities.
6. Conclusions
It worth menthion again that the Chinese
government has decided to invest more than 4 trillion
RMB (~ 600 billion US$) in infrastructures
(including significant portions of finance to water
related infrastructures) over the next decade; this
demonstrates that the government has a strong
determination to solve China’s complex water
problems. However, with a relatively constant water
supply, increased water demand will have to be met
mainly through water savings and improved water
quality (Feng et al., 2010; Yu et al., 2010). China has
been facing severe water resource management
challenges: water scarcity, water pollution and
flooding. China’s water scarcity is characterized by
insufficient quantities and poor water quality.
1318
Unprecedented rapid economic development
combined with population growth and urbanization
triggered the conflict between water supply and
demand. Historic improper water resources
management further intensified these challenges, and
potential climate change will make the conflict even
worse in future. If these three challenges cannot be
addressed properly, China will have to face even
more serious challenges in a near future. Effective
water resource management, using lessons from
around the world, including soft practices and policy
changes, can help tackle the challenges.
Several recommendations should be seriously
considered by the Chinese government: (1)
Integrated water resources management based on
river basins needs to be strengthened by giving more
power to the commissions of major rivers and lakes;
(2) A modern water rights system needs to be
developed which will hopefully enable water users to
trade their water rights and thus improve the
efficiency of water usage; (3) Supply-driven water
management needs to be changed and future water
management needs to pay more attention to water
demand management via improving water reuse rates
and water conservation; (4) More money needs to be
invested to address the water pollution problem in
terms of developing more water treatment facilities;
(5) To provide more water related information to the
public, will increase public participation and develop
a “human-water harmony” and water conservation
society. Ma and Tao (2010) pointed out that
transparency of information, engaging
business/industry as partners in environmental
collaboration, and integrating non-governmental
organisations and civil society organisations with the
country’s environmental governance structure would
be useful advances to facilitate water conservation.
(6) NGOs could play an important role in terms of
supervision, increasing public awareness or even
solving some water related problems; (7) The future
water price needs to reflect the real value of water as
a resource, a commodity, and the value of water
treatment costs.
Addressing China’s water resource
management challenges require a holistic, integrated,
scientific (including social and economic science)
approach with long-term, coordinated efforts.
Recently the Chinese government has announced a
mandate for integrated water management to
transform the country and tackle the grand challenges
for water in China. This policy is to be praised for its
level of ambition; but it is also absolutely necessary.
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