Water Shortage in China
...country. In order for China’s to meet the demand of water by the people, the government has setup a South to North water transfer project which intend to transfer the water in Southern china to Northern china. China leakage in the municipal water supply system has also created a water shortage for China. Annually, China lost approximately six billion cubic meters land of water (Qing .W, 2005). The government on the other hand are lacking of capital investments in water treatment and processing costs, tighter fiscal constraints, changing regulations regarding water quality, and aging and rapidly deteriorating (Dupont .D, 2004). The Government will play an important in improving the water system, hence reducing the water shortages of China. In order to improve the water system of China, the government should first view water both as a key to environmental health and as a scarce commodity that has a real value that must be managed accordingly (Jones .T, 2003). First of all, the government should create awareness to the public about the shortage of problems. Government should work with provinces and territories to encourage the provision of safe and sufficient water supplies for the Chinese in the effected areas. However, the main issue is to provide water policy that would help to reduce the problem of water shortages in drinking water. In order to fulfil the issue of water shortage in drinking water, economic policies have to be made in order for the public to act upon. According to Canada’s Federal Water Policy (2002), the objectives of implementing policies are to encourage use of clean water in an efficient and reasonable manner which will balance the social, economic and environmental needs of the present and future generations. A very strict law imposed by China in 1988 which is the water law, provides the basis for integrated water management and implementation mechanisms for pricing and cost recovery (Boxer .B, 2001). However, economic policies will involve issue such as cost-recovery principle. Cost-recovery principle is a very important policy as it imposes certain tariffs or pricing strategies to reduce the cost for the government in treating this drinking water. According to Tusneem (2003), cost-recovery principle is the basis for determining tariffs in industrial sector, implementation of commercial principles, improvement in the environmental management, formulation of a waster matter standard, implementing of wastewater tariffs and private sector investment. Moreover, improvement in technology could also help to reduce the matter in this issue. Anything that is scarce and in demand commands a price and this is the basic principles of economics. Water is scarce so water pricing is seen as an acceptable instrument of public policy. There are two aims in pricing water which are expanding supply and encouraging more responsible use. According to Tsur .Y (2004), setting the price right will encourage water uses of various sectors to utilize water efficiently by sending a signal of the value of the scarce resources. Consumers of waters such as industrials companies, farmers and home users, will feel the importance of conserving water once they have to pay more for consuming. Furthermore, if the amount of water being used will be priced higher, these consumers will likely to use water wisely. This water pricing should be priced based on reliable accounting and regulation of water quality and quantity (Mamatkanov & Shavva, 1996). These water pricing should also be of realistic pricing as direct means of controlling demand and generating revenues to cover costs. The awareness of the water pricing policy will therefore increase the supply of water since the main consumers of water are using water more efficiently. Another factor to increase the supply of drinking water is by implementing tariffs in the industrial sectors. The reason behind this implementation of tariffs in the industrial sectors is that they emit hazardous smokes in to the air causing acid rain which would pollute the drinking water. The implementation of tariffs policy will therefore imposed fines on these industrial sectors for the amount of pollution that they have caused. This pollution includes the emission of hazardous smokes and the discharge of wastewater in to the rivers. This will therefore cause the industrial sectors to understand the importance of water as China is facing water shortages. The industrial sectors will need to reduce pollution in order to avoid the tariffs being set upon them. Moreover, under the policy of implementation of commercial principles, it permits the industrial sectors to discharge a certain amount of pollutant. If they were to discharge more than the amount permitted, they will be fined with a charge. However, these tariffs will act as a direct investment for the government in reducing water shortages. These tariffs will contribute to schemes such as water treatment and recycling of wastewater. The most important policy of all will be the private sector investment. Promoting private sector involvement will help to raise awareness. These private sectors can help to encourage public participation by setting up campaign of conserving water. According to Tusneem (2003), TA a private sector in China has helped the Government to prepare the first BOT water project, which is The Chengdu No.6 Water Supply Plant. Private sectors has help a lot by investing in water supply infrastructure such as dams, pipelines, irrigation, water treatment plants and etc. However, the most important infrastructure to reduce the shortage of drinking is by providing heavy investment in the water treatment and recycling plants. Even with sufficient supply of water, this water has to be treated before consumption. Thus, the water treatment and recycling plant plays an important role in the supply of clean drinking water. Wastewater that has been discharge by the industrial sectors has to be recycled or treated. By treating or recycling this wastewater, it will help to decrease the shortage of drinking water. For wastewater to be treated, it will incur a lot of cost especially in the chemicals needed to dispose off the germs contained in the water. In addition, with proper water management, it could decrease the spread of diseases. On the other hand, the government strongly suggests that China should update its current technology. New technology could help to reduce water consumption such as by using water sprinklers or drip irrigation. The entry of foreign investors will also help to improve China’s water shortage as it will bring in financial capital, new technology, and human expertise to its water-sector investment (Silk .M & Black .S, 2000). Nonetheless, the economic impact of the overall policy will result in heavy cost in the short run as the government will have to spend more in the initial operations of the policy. Policies such as investment in water management infrastructures in dams, irrigation and water treatment plants requires incur of heavy costs. Besides, updating the current technology of China will also requires heavy costs in the initial operations. However, in the long run, China will benefit with the economic policy that is imposed as policies such as water pricing and implementation of tariffs on the industrial sectors, will help in the funding of water treatment and recycling. Therefore, with all the revenue gathered by the water pricing, tariffs, funds and investments imposed by the cost-recovery principle, has further helped in reducing cost for treating the wastewater. The government could now reduce cost in treating this wastewater and yet decrease the shortage of drinking water in China. The allocation of water should not be balance if it is to have an economic efficiency. In order to have an economic efficiency, the country should allocate more water to the industrial sectors as they are the main producer of goods and services of China. Take for example a marble tile manufacturing company of China will needs tons of water to wash away the rock materials. If the allocation of water is to be balance across the country, these manufacturing companies will have less water to carry out their work. This is due to the ...