Water Quality in China
Braden Rosenberg, John Gilbert, Kristen Underwood
29 October 2014, GEO 352
China’s GDP has increased 10%
each year since the 1970s. 7
“The pursuit of economic growth has been
the priority overshadowing the vital issues
of water resources and ecological balance” 5.
Outline
• Water Resources of China
• Brief History of Water Law &
Policy
• Project Profiles
– Eutrophication
– Mining
– South-to-North Water Diversion
Water Resources of China
•
•
•
•
7 % of world’s freshwater resources, but ~ 20% of world’s
population 1
Water usage has increased 5-fold since 1949 (People’s
Republic of China est.) 1
4/5 of water concentrated in the south 1
Population densities in the north and east 1
Nature, 2014 vol 511, issue 7511
http://www.nature.com/news/society-realizing-china-s-urban-dream-1.15151
Water Resources
Per capita Renewable Water
Resources in the 25 Most
Populous Countries
(x 1000 cubic meters per year)
• 300 million people in China
affected by water shortages 4
http://www.china-profile.com/data/fig_renewable-waterresources_1.htm
Water Demand – major sectors
Nature, 2014 vol 511, issue 7511
Agriculture (North Plain)
Industry
Domestic (urban centers)
Water Demand
Issues:
Overpumping of Groundwater
• e.g., North China Plain produces ½ of the country’s
grain; groundwater aquifers have been overpumped
leading to water table decline on the order of
hundreds of meters 6
Diversion/Impoundment of water
• e.g., 22,104 dams over the height of 15 m (2000)
Ditching/ Wetland Loss
Water Quality
Natural contaminants
Arsenic
– 26 M people
Fluorides
– Dental fluorosis
– Skeletal fluorosis
– 25 M people
Nature, 2014 vol 511, issue 7511
Water Quality
70% of China’s surface waters are polluted 7
Human contaminants
• Agricultural runoff (fertilizers, pesticides, livestock
waste)– algal blooms, eutrophication
• Sediment
• Septic waste
• Heavy metals (e.g., As, Mn)
• Radioactive wastes (thorium)
• Petrochemicals
Water Regulations – abbreviated timeline 9
• Environmental Protection Law
• Est. 1989; broad environmental policy
• Establishes “Polluter pays” principle
• Environmental protection as a right and obligation for all citizens
• Law on Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
• est. 1984, amended 1996
• Implementation lacking, few incentives for enforcement
• State council & local governments have implemented regulations to address water
pollution
• LPCWP amended 2008
• Stronger penalties for violators,
• created discharge permit program
• State / local governments continue to enforce local regulations
• 1998 - State Environmental Protection Agency est. as a ministry level
agency, following a year of devastating floods
• 2008 – SEPA replaced by Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP)
Water Law & Policy
Government Context 9
Effect on Regulation 9
• Unitary system –local level
powers are only those
delegated by the central
government
• Post-Mao reforms have eroded
central government power over
local-level subordinate bureaus
•
•
•
•
•
Multi-tiered system of regulation /
enforcement
Ministry for Environmental Protection
(MEP) directs national efforts, while
subordinate bureaus at the provincial,
city, county, district, and town levels
implement the national statutes and
regulation
Local environmental protection
bureaus report to regional
governments
Regional governments receive tax
revenues from industry (financial
incentive to protect industry)
Regulated industry often has direct
personal ties to regional government
Water Law & Policy
Government Context 9
Effect on Regulation 9
• Parliamentary system, with
President and Prime Minister
• Civil law society – judges do not
have authority to make or
interpret the law
• Communist Party has a parallel
government structure
• Prime Minister oversees MEP
• Nontransparent decisionmaking; may limit public
engagement
Examples of Recent Progress
•
2007 to present – EPA – China Environmental Law Initiative
–
•
US EPA collaborating with Chinese MEP to establish and develop various environmental
protection programs
2013 – National Standards on Environmental Protection in effect
–
e.g., air quality monitoring standards
•
Feb 2014 – MEP announces plan to invest $US 320B to address water pollution
•
Sep 2014 – World Bank approves loans totaling more than $US 500M to
improve water and wastewater infrastructure in three rural and suburban
8
regions of China
7
Project Profiles
Mining
North-South Transfer
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/lgcolor/cncolor.htm
Eutrophication
106:16:1
C:N:P
Credit: Desert Research Institute
Eutrophication effects:
-Recreation
-Fisheries
-Microcystin
-Coastal “dead-zones”
Steady decrease in lake size throughout record
24,923 km2
50% of total area!
Water Quality… and Rare Earth
Control in the PRC

Bayan Obo Mining District
Inner Mongolia
Batou City, Inner Mongolia
Pop. ~2 million
Legacy Mines
http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/problems/disp
osal.html
44.8 billion m3/year
4,350km (~2,750miles)
$60 billion
~500,000 people to be relocated
340,000 already moved
3,000 to 5,000m peaks
15% decrease in Yangtze water since 1970
Diversion = “5% of Yangtze flow”
Data on flow from 1950-1990’s
Massively increased adjacent river engineering:
-Build more dams to supplement rivers that are being diverted
-Construct barriers to prevent pollution of clean reservoirs and rivers
Water Quality
References
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NY Times, 28Sept 2007, Under China's Booming North, the Future Is Drying Up”,
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE5D8143AF93BA1575AC0A9619C8B63&pagewanted=1
Gleick, Peter H., 2009, China and Water. Chapter 5 in The World’s Water, Pacific Institute, http://www2.worldwater.org/data20082009/ch05.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/world/asia/china-takes-loss-to-get-ahead-in-desalination-industry.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Tao & Zin, 30 July 2014, Public health: A sustainable plan for China's drinking water. Nature 511 (7511). http://www.nature.com/news/public-health-a-sustainableplan-for-china-s-drinking-water-1.15619
China Daily. 2007a. Before We Run Dry. February 28, 2007. http://www.mwr.gov.cn/english1/20070228/82467.asp
Griffiths, D. 2006. Drought Worsens China Water Woes. British Broadcasting Corporation News (BBC), Beijing. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4754519.stm
Toronto Star, 12 May 2004, China wakes up to its water crisis. http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/05/12/china_wakes_up_to_its_water_crisis.html
The World Bank, 12 Sept 2014, World Bank to Help Improve Environmental Services in China. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/09/25/worldbank-to-help-improve-environmental-services-in-china
Winalski, Dawn, 2009, Cleaner Water in China? The Implications of the Amendments to China’s Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution. J. ENVTL. LAW
AND LITIGATION [Vol. 24, 181], http://law.uoregon.edu/org/jell/docs/232/Winalski.pdf