Greater Bay Area unveils plan for water management

The water management system will further be enhanced in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the years ahead, playing a role in controlling and stopping flood disasters and ensuring high quality drinking water availability.

According to the Plan of Water Security in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the capability of water management system will be able to reach the leading level in the country by 2025 and lead the world by 2035, contributing to accelerate the high quality development of the Greater Bay Area.

Shenzhen special economic zone will become a model city in water conservancy infrastructural development and construction of water conservancy facilities in the country in five years, said the plan.

Meanwhile, the water ecological environment will be improved in an all-round way and the ability to prevent and resolve water security risks will also be significantly enhanced by 2035, said the plan.

"The goals of flood prevention and control, high-quality drinking water resources supplies, construction of healthy water ecology and livable water environment will have fully been realized, while the water security assurance capability and water intelligent level will be able to reach the world advanced standards in 15 years," said the plan.

The plan was jointly issued by the Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macao Affairs and the Ministry of Water Resources earlier this week.

It will help guide the development and construction of water conservancy industry and projects in the Greater Bay Area which includes nine Guangdong cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, plus Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Meanwhile, the plan urges further expansion of coordination and cooperation in the development of water conservancy projects, water resources, water culture, water science, disaster prevention and reduction as well as boundary river management among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in the coming years.

To this end, the Pearl River Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources will spare no effort in speeding up the construction of major water conservancy projects and strengthening supervision to comprehensively improve the level of water security and help accelerate the high-quality development of Greater Bay Area in the following years, said the plan.

But the plan admitted it is a long-term and tough task, as more than 72 percent of the waste water discharged in Guangdong province, window of China's reform and opening-up, is mainly found in the nine cities in the prosperous Pearl River Delta.

Due to the rapid economic and industrial development, including urban construction, the space of rivers and lakes in the area has greatly been occupied and the number of estuarine beach wetlands has fallen while local water ecological environment is also facing challenges, said the plan.

Meanwhile, relevant departments need to make great efforts to promote modernization of water conservancy industry through innovation of science and technology, the plan added.

Located in the subtropical zone in China's southern coastal areas, Guangdong is frequently hit by typhoons and storms in summer.