Water Pollution Control Strategies in China(Some examples)

(1)China’s strategy for controlling water pollution focused first on reducing the discharge of oxygen-demanding substances. The 11^th Five Year Plan (FYP), adopted in 2006 contained binding targets for reducing these discharges. A water quality parameter known as Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) that measures the oxygen demand of the organic matter present in a water sample is used to quantify these discharges and the 11^th FYP targets are expressed in terms of reducing COD discharges to receiving waters. Reducing the discharge of untreated municipal and industrial wastewater is the best way to reduce COD levels and China has made great progress in collecting and treating municipal wastewater over the past decades⁴. To achieve the mandatory COD reduction targets, both Central and local governments have adopted a variety of measures, including closing heavily polluting companies, accelerating the construction of new wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and upgrading existing WWTP to meet stricter effluent standards (Class I-A)⁵. These actions also served to greatly reduce the discharge of pathogens to surface waters.

While upgrading additional WWTPs to meet the higher effluent standards would result in additional reductions in COD discharges, it might be better to instead focus on increasing the rate of sewage collection and treatment. There is still a significant amount of uncollected and untreated wastewater being discharged by Chinese cities, and reducing the amount may be more cost-effective than upgrading existing WWTPs.

(2)The rapid socioeconomic-development is outpacing the water carrying- and supplying-capacities in many water-stressed regions in China. As a rapidly developing country, China is also facing serious water crises [1,2], such as over exploitation and inefficient utilization of water resources, deteriorating water-quality and hydro-morphological degradation, which pose a great threat to human survival and sustainable development [3,4]. A variety of measures have been adopted to reduce pollution and improve water quality (WQ), such as the Ten-Point Water Plan issued in 2015 [5], but some issues remain unresolved.

Currently, the most effective means of environmental protection are environmental monitoring, supervision, cadres responsibility (two duties for one post), and law enforcement. However, the source control of pollution remains relatively inadequate. As the most important policy for source control in China, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) relies less on accountability, compared to those in developed countries. Enterprises are pursuing the approval of the EIA, but they forgo the responsibility of environmental protection and pollution prevention. Therefore, in 2017, China initiated the “Three Lines One Permit” (TLOP) as a source control policy prior to EIA to improve the environmental governance capacity [6], based on the environmental protection planning [7], functional zoning [8], and strategic environmental assessments [9]. TLOP is a comprehensive policy for ecology, water, air, soil, and other resources. Among these resources, water is the most important. The TLOP aims to solve the following problems:

First, the disordered spatial development and irrational processes in urbanization and industrialization exacerbate the deterioration of water bodies [10], and has previously been overlooked. Zoning aids the limitations in TLOP, as it divides an area into sub-areas based on similar characteristics for the implementation of appropriate environmental measures [11,12,13]. China has previously explored zoning for protected areas [13], water functions, water environmental functions, water ecological functions [14], and watershed functions [15]. However, conflicts and overlaps exist between the current zoning-types. The TLOP aims to evaluate the spatial heterogeneity of water eco-environment functions and problems, integrate all current zoning-types in one map, and identify the protected and critical-pollutant areas.

Second, water-resource utilization in current urban-water systems is inefficient [16,17], leading to pollutant discharge into the water. In some regions, even the basic ecological-flows in rivers, streams, and wetlands for ecological water maintenance cannot be ensured [18]. Water-stressed, inefficient, and insufficient ecological-flow often results in the depletion and deterioration of water bodies [19]. The Water Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan released in 2015 [20] highlighted the importance of comprehensively promoting water-pollution prevention, water ecological protection, and water-resource management [21]. With the deepening institutional reform of the State Council in China that began in 2018, the pollution-control policies will be unified under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE). These policies will cover water-function zoning, groundwater quality, and marine environment, which are conducive to the coordination of zoning and management requirements. The TLOP is the first policy that tries to improve WQ with regards to water environment, resources, and ecology.

Third, isolated and segmented regulations are less effective for improving government efficiency and capacity [22,23]. The TLOP was designed to integrate all current regulations of every water-environment control unit to eliminate the inconsistent management- requirements, laws, regulations, planning, etc.

(3)Improving sustainable agricultural water management is a key country-wide water challenge; Irrigated agriculture is the main user of water resources (60%), followed by industry and domestic consumption. In the water scarce provinces, this percentage can go up to 90%. The problem is further exacerbated through conflicts between upstream and downstream users of China´s large rivers – upstream, farmers increase their use, while downstream users essentially have less water left for themselves. Irrigated agriculture is a key contributor to rural employment and livelihoods for around 30% of the country’s population (2014) and hence a matter of high political priority. According to World Bank data, the agriculture sector account for 8.6 percentage of the China GDP in 2016. The Government of China was therefore looking for real results in water conservation, in addition to increasing efficiency of use. Experience shows that increasing efficiency alone does not reduce the overall water consumption as farmers may increase their production.

The Water Conservation Project II supported by the World Bank tackled these water scarcity issues head-on through a series of interlinked operations in the Chinese provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, and Ningxia – three of the most water-scarce provinces in the Northern region of the country. To reduce net water consumption, the project sought to reduce water withdrawal for irrigated agriculture in Ningxia and Shanxi Provinces, and groundwater overdraft in Hebei Province. In addition, the project also provided incentives to farmers to lower the agricultural production costs and increase the agricultural yield and value in all three of those provinces.

How did the Water Conservation Project II successfully reduce net water consumption?

First, the project’s integrated approach contributed to its success. In particular, the project blended supply-side measures and demand management interventions, such as combining investments in engineering works, agricultural investments in land husbandry, agronomic measures, and improved irrigation technology and management. Additional approaches included the following:

Water-saving infrastructure
Technological improvements
Volumetric water pricing
Participatory agricultural water planning and self-management
Consumption-based water allocation and management

Farmers like Wang Weirong received an IC card to get water from the irrigation water management system.
“It is very easy. You just need to swipe the card and water will come to your field,” he says. Watch his story

Second, the Water Conservation Project was built on the experiences and lessons from its successful predecessor – the Water Conservation Project 1 (2000-2006). In order to precisely determine water use, the project introduced and mainstreamed in the design, the innovative concept of value added per unit of evapotranspiration (ET, or the process of transferring moisture from the earth into the atmosphere). The project was able to reduce non-beneficial ET to achieve ‘real water savings’. In addition, the project focused on taking integrated measures such as tailoring cropping patterns for higher water productivity and changing farmers’ behavior to reduce water consumption. The project provided financial and technical support to farm communities, leading to substantial increases in farm yield and output value with lower water consumption.

Third, the project invested in empowering local communities, building cooperative water user groups, and institutional strengthening through the establishment of new Water User Associations (WUAs) and the strengthening of existing ones. In project areas, self-managed WUAs were given responsibility to operate and maintain parts of or entire the irrigation system. WUAs were given the mandate to collect volumetric water charges and participate in water use planning and management.

Fourth, the project focused on farmer empowerment and incentives for farmers to change water use and water management behavior. The WUAs also organized the farmers around the management of the irrigation systems, water conservation, and water-saving measures, as well as tools and approaches to increase their productivity. The involvement of farmers in preparation, management, and maintenance of agricultural water-saving irrigation projects had a direct impact on the functionality and sustainability of the measures taken, as well as on the acceptance of new ideas and concepts by the farmer communities – such as switching to less water-intensive and higher-value crops.

Water Conservation Project II results in raised incomes and reduced water consumption

The Water Conservation Project II resulted in increases in farmer incomes while reducing water consumption and conserving the environment. The increase in agricultural water productivity also enhanced the climate resilience of the farming communities. Additional project results in the project areas speak for themselves:

Crop yields increased significantly against 2011 baseline figures in all cases.
Water withdrawal in Ningxia was reduced by 22.67 million cubic meters (MCM) per year.
Groundwater overdraft in Hebei was reduced by 16.52 MCM per year.
Groundwater withdrawal in Shanxi was reduced by 5.80 MCM per year.
New or improved irrigation and drainage services reached 594,200 beneficiaries, of whom 287,300 (48 percent) are women.
Altogether, 290 WUAs in the three provinces have been created or strengthened by the project, comprising over 800 staff and more than 760,000 members (around half are woman).
Agricultural water productivity in project areas increased from 1.0 to 1.40 kg/m3 (of ET).

By improving the sustainable use of finite water resources, this project helped to support greener growth and bolster more inclusive economic development. The project contributed to implementation of China's national agriculture development and water resources management strategies and policies. It is also satisfying to see that the innovative approaches to water management introduced by the project are now being adopted on a broader scale in China and help shape other World Bank-supported projects in other parts of the world.