Fresh water resources are so important, but they have long been treated unfairly by human beings. Do not pay attention to cherish and protect it. Over time, the problems piled up. At the Fifth World Water Congress held in Beijing in September this year, experts and scholars from many countries in the world expressed great concern about the present situation and future of the world's fresh water resources. It is estimated that there are about 654.38+0.5 billion people in more than 80 countries around the world facing the shortage of fresh water resources, among which 300 million people in 26 countries live in a state of water shortage. It is estimated that by 2025, 3 billion people around the world will be short of water, involving more than 40 countries and regions. That is to say, in 2 1 century, the whole world is facing the same problem, that is, the challenge of water shortage.
The situation of freshwater resources is not optimistic.
Then, as a rapidly developing country, the situation of fresh water resources in China has naturally attracted the attention of relevant people in the world.
The situation of fresh water resources in China can be summarized in one sentence, that is, "the situation is very grim". Specifically, it can be summarized as the following three aspects:
First, the contradiction between population and water shortage in China is becoming more and more prominent, and the water shortage situation in the north is becoming more and more severe. As we all know, the most basic national condition of China is a large population. With the gradual increase of population in China, the contradiction between water resources and population becomes more and more acute. According to the calculation of relevant departments, the total amount of fresh water resources in China today is 2.8 trillion cubic meters, ranking sixth in the world. However, with a population of more than 65.438+0.3 billion, the per capita possession is only 2,240 cubic meters, which is about 654.38+0/4 of the world average. According to internationally recognized standards, the per capita water shortage below 3000 cubic meters is mild; Less than 2000 cubic meters is moderate water shortage; Less than 1000 cubic meters is a serious water shortage; Below 500 cubic meters is extremely short of water. In this way, China has generally entered the ranks of countries with moderate water shortage.
The fresh water resources in China are not only rich, but also unevenly distributed, and the most water-deficient areas are mainly in the north. According to statistics, the land area of the Yangtze River basin and its south area only accounts for 36.5% of the whole country, but water resources account for 8 1%. The Huaihe River basin and its northern area account for 63.5% of the land area, while water resources only account for 19%. The Yellow River, Huaihe River and Haihe River basins, where water resources are the most scarce, account for only 7.7% of the country's total. At present, the per capita water resources of 16 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China (excluding transit water) are less than 1000 cubic meters, and the per capita water resources of 6 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) are less than 500 cubic meters (Ningxia, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi and Jiangsu).
Second, water pollution has spread all over the country. If the water shortage in China mainly refers to the northern region in terms of per capita water resources, then the pollution of water resources is a national problem. Moreover, the more water-rich areas and big cities, the more densely populated areas, the more serious the pollution. Results Water shortage occurred in water-rich areas. This is a more serious water resource problem in China. Recently, the water conservancy department of China conducted water quality tests on about 700 large and medium-sized rivers in China, with a length of nearly 654.38+10,000 kilometers. As a result, nearly 654.38+0/2 reach was polluted, and 654.38+0/654.38+00 reach was seriously polluted. Many rivers have lost their use value. According to another survey, at present, more than 90% of urban waters in China are polluted to varying degrees; In some river basins and regions, water pollution extends from the tributaries to the main stream, permeates from the surface to the underground, develops from the land to the sea, spreads from the city to the countryside, and expands from the east to the west. In recent years, the discharge of wastewater and sewage in China has increased at a rate of 65.438+0.8 billion tons per year. The daily discharge of industrial wastewater and domestic sewage in China is nearly 65.438+0.64 billion tons, of which about 80% is directly discharged into water without treatment.
Third, inefficient water use and over-exploitation coexist. First of all, the water use efficiency is low, and the more water is lacking, the lower the efficiency is. For example, in the Yellow River basin, which is seriously short of water, large-scale flood irrigation is widely used in agricultural irrigation. The average water consumption per mu of farmland in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia irrigation areas is above 1000 cubic meters, which is several times to ten times higher than that in water-saving irrigation areas. The utilization rate of agricultural water is generally low. At present, the water consumption per unit grain output is 2-2.5 times that of developed countries.
This is true of agricultural water, and so is industrial water. At present, the reuse rate of industrial water in China is far below the level of 75% in advanced countries, the water consumption per unit GDP is ten to dozens times that of advanced countries, and the water consumption per unit of some important products is several times or even dozens times higher than the advanced level abroad.
Secondly, the over-exploitation of water resources is becoming more and more serious. For example, Haihe River Basin is one of the most densely populated areas in China, including most areas of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, as well as some areas of Shandong, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Henan. There are 26 large and medium-sized cities in this area. This area is also the most water-deficient area in China, with only 293 cubic meters per capita. Over the years, great changes have taken place in the socio-economic situation here. Compared with the 1950s, the population doubled, the irrigated area increased six times, the GDP increased more than 30 times, and the total water consumption increased four times, which greatly exceeded the carrying capacity of water resources. As a result, surface water and groundwater are overexploited for a long time, and the exploitation rate reaches 98%, far exceeding the warning line of 40%.
According to the data provided by the Ministry of Water Resources, the number of groundwater over-exploitation areas in China has increased from 56 in the 1980s to 164 at present, and the over-exploitation area has also increased from 87,000 square kilometers to 654,388+080 square kilometers. The annual over-exploitation of groundwater exceeds 654.38+000 billion cubic meters, and the land subsidence in different degrees exceeds 60,000 square kilometers.
On the one hand, China is not rich in fresh water resources; On the other hand, the waste of water resources and the serious pollution of water quality make the available fresh water resources more tense. Since 1980s, the phenomenon of water shortage in China has gradually spread to the whole country, which has seriously affected agriculture and national economy. According to statistics, in normal years, the total water shortage in China is estimated to have reached 40 billion cubic meters. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, the average annual drought-affected area of farmland in China reached 385 million mu, and the average annual grain production was reduced by 35 billion kilograms. There are 320 million people in rural areas of China who have unsafe drinking water. More than 400 cities are short of water, and 1 10 cities are seriously short of water. Water shortage and water pollution have a serious impact on the environment and people's physical and mental health.
Causes of fresh water resources problems
I think there are four main reasons for these problems in China's fresh water resources.
First, objective reasons, such as drought and water shortage, uneven distribution of water resources in time and space, are caused by objective conditions such as nature, geography and meteorology in China, which can be said to be a "godsend". Judging from the current level of scientific and technological development, the ability to solve these problems is still very limited. We can only be familiar with it, adapt to it, and carry out appropriate transformation on this basis.
Second, subjective reasons, such as waste of water resources and water pollution, are mostly man-made. Among them, the most common and serious thing is that for a long time, our development concept and cadre assessment system have some defects. Some government officials mistakenly understand economic development as a single GDP development; See the growth of GDP as a shortcut for your promotion. With this concept, their economic development will lead to short-term behavior, and they will get immediate results in the extensive way they are used to, and they will be extravagant in the use of resources. Even in order to achieve temporary economic growth, they will discharge thousands of tons of harmful substances into rivers, lakes and seas at the expense of polluting the environment.
Third, the reasons for development and the mode of economic growth. Since the reform and opening up in China, the economic aggregate has grown rapidly, and the population has also increased a lot. In the case that the population and economic aggregate have increased greatly, while the total water resources have remained basically unchanged, we can only adapt to it with advanced, scientific and economic economic growth methods. However, for various reasons, this problem has not been solved.
The fourth is institutional reasons. For a long time, China's water resources management is basically single, relying on the administrative-led management model, and the main bodies of water supply and sewage treatment are mostly state-funded institutions. The basic role of the market in the allocation of water resources has not been brought into play, the economic means to promote the conservation and protection of water resources, such as water price, have not been formed, the main body of water resources development and utilization has no internal motivation to save and protect, the public has not participated in the management of water resources, and the problems of water shortage and water pollution have not been effectively solved.
Treatment of fresh water resources and its prospect
Facing the severe challenge of water resources, the decision-makers and ordinary people in China have begun to take action. In the 11th Five-Year Plan, we can see that the government of China has clearly recognized the constraints and challenges of China's water resources on social and economic development, warned people to enhance their sense of hardship, and put forward very important and targeted guidelines such as establishing Scientific Outlook on Development and changing the mode of economic growth. It is worth noting that in the 11th Five-Year Plan, specific management indicators of water resources were put forward for the first time, such as the water consumption per unit of industrial added value decreased by 30%, the effective utilization coefficient of agricultural irrigation water increased to 0.5, and the discharge of major pollutants decreased by 10%.
In order to implement the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, governments at all levels and relevant departments have also formulated their own corresponding implementation plans. Among them, there are several aspects worthy of attention.
First, speed up the construction of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project. As we said before, water shortage in China mainly refers to the north. Especially under the influence of natural changes and human activities in the past 20 years, the trend of more water resources in the south and less in the north is more serious. This distribution of water resources formed by natural, geographical, meteorological and other factors is difficult to solve by soft science alone. We must work hard to do it. The ongoing South-to-North Water Transfer Project is one of the difficulties. The 11th Five-Year Plan clearly proposes to speed up the South-to-North Water Transfer Project.
The second is to further comprehensively promote the construction of a water-saving society. Building a water-saving society is a strategic move put forward in the Tenth Five-Year Plan. And achieved remarkable results. It is the most fundamental and effective strategic measure to solve the problem of drought and water shortage in China, and it is also an important means and basic way to promote the transformation of economic growth mode. After entering the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan", a remarkable feature compared with the past is that in deepening the construction of a water-saving society, Scientific Outlook on Development is particularly emphasized to guide and transform the mode of economic growth. GDP is no longer everything, but comprehensive indicators including water saving indicators and pollution control indicators are used as the basis for assessing cadres' political achievements.
The third is to speed up the reform of water resources management system and mechanism innovation.
In the 11th Five-Year Plan implemented this year, the most impressive thing is that all relevant departments have accelerated the pace of reform, and established a new system and mechanism for saving, protecting and efficiently utilizing water resources through deepening reform. Mainly includes:
(1) Improve the water resources management system combining watershed management with administrative regional management. The focus is on the power to rationally divide river basins and regional management. Strengthen the functions of total water intake control, water function area supervision and water dispatching management, and explore the establishment of scientific decision-making and democratic management mechanism in river basins. At the same time, accelerate the process of unified management of water resources, merge relevant functions of resource management, and strengthen the ability of water resources supervision and management in various regions. Encourage water users to participate in water management, participate in water management affairs such as water allocation and water price setting through various forms, and promote the formation of a water-saving social management system with government regulation, market guidance and public participation.
(2) Promote the reform of water system. The key point is to establish and improve a water management system with separation of government from enterprise, separation of government affairs, clear rights and responsibilities and coordinated operation. Under the guidance of national policies, we will actively promote the process of water industrialization and marketization, and gradually establish a benign operation mechanism of water affairs led by the government, social financing, market operation and enterprise development. Establish a diversified, multi-channel and multi-level water conservancy investment and financing mechanism. Strengthen the government's supervision over the water market, and build a macro-policy environment and supporting reform measures conducive to the marketization and industrialization of the water industry. Integrate the water industry, cultivate cross-regional large-scale water groups, and promote the reform of property rights system in the water industry.
(3) Innovating the internal mechanism of water resources management. These include giving full play to the role of the market in water resources management and using economic means to promote the whole society to establish an internal incentive mechanism for water saving and pollution prevention. Actively promote water price reform, establish a scientific and reasonable water price formation mechanism, and promote the efficient use of water resources. Collect water resources fees for central power plants and agricultural water, study and formulate a water resources fee collection mechanism, and promote water conservation. Reasonably raise the water supply price of water conservancy projects and urban water supply prices. Comprehensively levy sewage treatment fees and adjust the level of fees. Implement a progressive price increase system that exceeds the plan and quota, and appropriately open the water price difference between high-water consumption industries and other industries. Formulate market rules for water rights trading, standardize the transfer price of water rights, promote the paid transfer of water rights, and realize the over-use price increase, saving rewards and compensation and paid transfer. It is understood that by 20 10, China will initially establish the legal, administrative, economic and technical policies, publicity and education system of China's water-saving society, and the water consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP will be reduced by 20%; The effective utilization coefficient of agricultural irrigation water in China increased from 0.45 to 0.5, and the agricultural irrigation water in China basically achieved zero growth; Water consumption per unit of industrial added value is reduced by 30%; The water use efficiency of service industry is close to the international advanced level in the same period. We firmly believe that these goals can be achieved.