Government and Policy
Water conservation programs announced
By Liang Chao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-01-17 18:16
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CHANGSHA: Conserving water, the lifeblood of agriculture, will be a major focus in improving the well-being of rural people in coming years.
Instead of heavily investing in water projects for irrigation, authorities will focus more on conserving water to serve the drinking water and agriculture needs of large rural populations.
Addressing a national meeting on water conservancy on Sunday, he said that 2010 will be the last year for water authorities to reinforce dangerous reservoirs.
Chen also pledged to improve the water environment for rural residents by harnessing local rivers or reducing pollution with rural electrification to improve people's quality of life.
Many years ago, his ministry listed up to 6,240 large and medium-sized reservoirs throughout the country as old and in need of reinforcement of their dams or floodgates to prevent harm to residents downstream. Today, work has begun or been completed for 6,124, or 98 percent, of the dams.
Work on the remaining reservoirs will begin this year to complete the projects before the start of this year’s flood season to prevent them from damaging growing crops downstream, according to a report released today.
"After removing problems on the large reservoirs designed for flood control and water supply this year, we will reinforce 1,116 other small ones with hidden problems for rural residents," the minister said. He urged local authorities to plan the repairs of small, dilapidated reservoirs within the next three years.
By the end of last year, a record of 142.7 billion yuan ($20.89 billion) was budgeted for water conservation projects throughout the country, including repairs of deteriorated reservoirs.
The policy has also benefited about 60.7 million rural residents who had no access to safe drinking water, since the funds were spent on water supply projects designed for them. In fact, China has established "drinking water security" for half of the country's population plagued by the problem -- one year ahead of the schedule set by China as part of the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
"By keeping our promise, China will now secure safe drinking water for the remaining 60 million in the years to come," he said.
To support grain production, some 50 continued auxiliary projects for the country's key irrigation districts - the leading breadbaskets in the arid north – will be launched to integrate water-efficient irrigation with other large irrigation and drainage pumping stations that also will be updated in the waterlogged south.
By 2020, water-saving irrigation is expected to become available for 50.6 hectares of irrigated areas, or about 90 percent of the total irrigated farmland, that produce 75 percent of the country’s grains.
