Water

Water Champion: Suo Lisheng
Overcoming Water Challenges in the People’s Republic of China: Floods, Droughts, Pollution and Erosion
October 2005

By Cezar Tigno
Web Writer, ADB

Vice Minister Suo Lisheng of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s Ministry of Water Resources has been in the water sector for nearly 40 years. He shares his wisdom on water management in this interview. After graduating from the Institute of Technology of East China (now University of Henan) in 1966, Minister Suo Lisheng earned a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan, and was Professor and Dean of the Hydroelectric Power Department at Hohai University in Jiangsu Province. He was appointed vice president of the same university in 1997 before he was called upon to serve as Vice Minister in 2001. This interview was conducted during filming of a forthcoming documentary on PRC’s water challenges. Ministry of Water Resources PRC’s Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) functions under the supervision of the State Council and is responsible for water administration. The MWR is mandated to formulate water-related policies, strategies and plans; draft and implement enabling legislation and water-related regulatory frameworks; and implement integrated management of water resources. The MWR supervises 10 departments responsible for almost all aspects of the water sector, from flood control and drought relief to irrigation, drainage and rural water supply. Also under its management are 7 river basin organizations and a number of agencies and institutions throughout the PRC. Recently, the MWR, with support from ADB, initiated a strategic planning study for the preparation of the Yellow River Law, the country’s first river protection framework law.

What are the PRC’s most important water challenges?

China has quite a variety of water problems, but the four most serious ones can be represented by eight Chinese characters: “much water, little water, dirty water, and muddy water.”

“Much water” refers to the frequent floods during the monsoon. Rainfall is concentrated during the three or four months of rain, and is very likely to cause flooding. Every year, we suffer great losses due to floods.

“Little water” refers to our droughts, which is generally the cause of our shortage in water resources. More than 300 or 400 cities lack water. The losses in agriculture caused by drought even exceed the losses in floods.

“Dirty water” refers to our serious water pollution problems, which have further aggravated the problems caused by the first two challenges.

“Muddy water” stands for soil erosion. Five billion tons of soil is eroded every year. The silt enters rivers and lakes worsening the damage caused by floods and taking a toll on flood protection capabilities.

How is PRC solving its water problems?

We have made small but significant steps to overcome our water challenges.

After the great flood of the Yangtze River in 1998, the Government increased the flood control budget for constructing large dikes in the big rivers, like the Yangtze or Yellow River. The dikes have greatly increased our capacity to withstand floods. Beyond that, however, we are now establishing an integrated flood control system that includes non-structural measures. These include the enhancement of the flood information system to aid flood control decision-making, and the formulation and implementation of new laws. We are also experimenting with flood insurance to compensate for flood losses and expenses. I believe that when it comes to flood control, China is going in the right direction.

After 1998, we also started to promote the idea of “giving floods an outlet.” Reversing the practice of transforming wetlands into farmland, we are now gradually restoring the wetlands, reforesting the formerly cultivated land, conserving water sources and applying water and soil conservation measures.

We have also made considerable progress on the shortage of water resources. We are campaigning for a water-saving society and carrying out water-saving initiatives in agriculture and other industries. China is now able to save about 5 million cubic meters of water every year.

To solve the water shortage in dry areas, we have improved the allocation and transfer of water resources. Because water resources in China are not distributed evenly, we can pump water from the flood-prone Southern Provinces to the drought-stricken Northern Provinces. The south-north water transfer schemes have caught the attention of the international community. Through the integrated management and allocation of water resources, we have also reduced conflicts over scarce water resources to a certain extent.

The water pollution problem is the biggest headache. While pollution in some areas has been controlled, overall we feel that there is no fundamental improvement. I think there is a need to openly deal with the relationship between economic and social development and pollution control. This has not been adequately addressed. Emphasis is placed on economic development while ignoring the pollution that results from urbanization and population growth. The pollution load of our rivers and lakes is still increasing. In this respect, we are now at a critical time.

What is PRC’s progress in terms of providing its people access to safe drinking water?

Our investigations indicate that there are probably more than 300 million people in the country who do not have access to safe drinking water. These people are mainly living in the countryside. They are forced to drink water with high fluorine levels, bitter salty water, or water with high arsenic content, which triggers diseases and other health problems.

How would you summarize the key lessons of PRC’s experience in managing water resources, for other developing countries in the Asia and Pacific region?

Ancient Chinese civilization emphasized harmony between people and nature. But with society’s progress, this idea has been set aside as people started to think that they can conquer nature. But they ignored the negative impact of human activity on nature.

Now, I feel that we have come full circle, and realized that the ancient Chinese thinking was right. This realization was brought about by three important lessons on water management.

First, while we use and develop water resources, we should also pay attention to its protection. This was a bitter lesson. We utilized some rivers too much, and this brought very serious ecological problems. Now we have adopted the idea that when you harness a river, you should pay attention to conservation and protection.

Second, while we have development plans to make optimal use of our water resources, we should also pay attention to its allocation.

And third, while we construct dams, reservoirs and dikes, we should not neglect to put efficient systems in place to manage the infrastructure. More often than not, we put the stress on building and disregard management. Frankly speaking, China does not have enough experience in water resource management, which is why it has become our top priority. We hope to learn from the best practices of other countries.

Related Link

• Integrated Solutions for Integrated Water Problems