Abstract: Water resource is an important natural resource and an indispensable resource for production, operation and people's life. The sustainable development of economy and society requires the sustainable development of water resources. The situation of water resources utilization in Beijing is grim, and the water resources crisis is aggravated, which seriously affects the sustainable development of social economy. Therefore, by analyzing the present situation and existing problems of water resources in Beijing, on the one hand, we can use engineering measures and administrative means to protect water resources, and at the same time, we can flexibly use some economic means to achieve the effective purpose of encouraging people to save water and protect water resources and the environment.

Keywords: water resources economic adjustment price system, water-saving consciousness of sewage treatment

I. General situation of water resources in Beijing

Beijing's per capita water resources are less than 300m3, which is 1/30 of the world's per capita water resources and 1/8 of the national per capita water resources, far below the international per capita water shortage limit of 1000m3. It is a resource-based area with severe water shortage, and also belongs to 1 1 extremely poor water. The shortage of water resources in Beijing has become a major bottleneck restricting social and economic development. There are three problems in the development and utilization of water resources in Beijing:

1, the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources has intensified.

With the intensification of urbanization, Beijing's population has surged and its economy has developed rapidly, and the water demand for water resources has also increased. In addition, a considerable part of the water available in Beijing comes from overseas. In recent years, the decrease of water inflow has also profoundly affected the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources in Beijing. The inflow of water in Beijing is 535 million m3, and the outflow is 654.38+008 million m3. The interaction and superposition of the above two factors aggravate the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources in Beijing.

2. Water charges continue to rise.

In 2008, the exploitable amount of groundwater in Beijing was about 265,438+420 million m3. At the end of 2008, the average buried depth of groundwater was 22.92 meters, compared with the end of 2007, the groundwater level decreased by 0. 1.3 meters, and the groundwater reserve decreased by 700 million cubic meters. The serious exploitation of groundwater leads to higher and higher water cost and greater damage to the environment.

3. Water resources are seriously polluted.

Industrialization and urbanization have brought about the increase of social wealth, but at the same time, they have also produced a lot of industrial and domestic wastewater. At the same time, the application of pesticides and fertilizers in the basin has increased year by year, and agricultural backwater has caused organic pollutants in water bodies to exceed the standard to varying degrees. Sewage discharge is still on the rise, and there is still room for improvement in sewage treatment rate.

Second, the basis and conditions of economic analysis

1. Water resources have economic characteristics.

First of all, water resources are irreplaceable. The ecological function of water determines that it is the foundation on which human beings and all living things depend, and it is irreplaceable by any other substance. Moreover, the resource function of water is relatively irreplaceable economically. Secondly, water resources are scarce, because the acquisition of water resources requires the input of production costs, and the water resources available under certain production costs are limited. In this case, scarcity becomes economic scarcity. 、

2, the use of economic means to adjust the system conditions.

Now the market has played a fundamental role in economic life, which has laid a good institutional environment for the effective protection and utilization of water resources by economic means. We can flexibly use economic means such as water right, water market, price lever and tax adjustment to solve the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources, promote the optimal allocation of water resources, effectively protect and utilize water resources, and solve problems that cannot be solved by administrative means and engineering measures.

3. Social environment regulated by economic means.

Water is not only a commodity, but also a scarce resource and an important strategic resource. People's understanding of its important value is deepening. At the same time, due to economic development, people's living standards have been greatly improved, economic affordability has been significantly enhanced, and the ability to pay extra for scarce social resources has also been enhanced. A good social environment creates favorable conditions for the effective protection and utilization of water resources by economic means.

Three. Effective measures to utilize and protect water resources by economic means

1, emphasizing the value of water resources.

Like coal and oil, water has its own unique value. The so-called value of water resources is the amount of money that water users pay to water resource owners in order to obtain the right to use water resources. On the basis of maintaining the continuous supply of water resources, this money can meet the needs of compensating its owners for their contribution to water resources assets, which embodies the economic relationship between water resources owners and users. Because first of all, we must firmly establish the value concept of water resources in people's ideological system, in order to further enhance people's awareness of water saving.

2. Improve the water price system.

Domestic water should not only consider the cost of water supply, but also the treatment cost of domestic sewage, and the external cost should be included in the price of water resources. Because a single family cannot treat its domestic sewage by itself, it must rely on the social public system, so sewage charges can be included in the water price, and more water can be used to discharge more pollutants, which makes residents pay more for water resources. Therefore, the water price of domestic water can be expressed as: domestic water price = water supply cost+external marginal cost+profit.

Industrial water pollution is serious, and the water pollution situation in different industries is very different. It is reasonable to collect sewage charges separately from water prices. Therefore, the formula of industrial water price does not include external marginal cost, and its formula is: industrial water price = water supply cost+profit. For the water industry with huge water consumption and serious pollution, the marginal use cost must be considered.

Agricultural water is the largest user in China, accounting for more than 80% of the total. However, the price of agricultural water in China is generally lower than the cost of water supply, and it is almost free to use in some places. Therefore, the future agricultural water price reform should be that its price gradually reaches the water supply cost. Considering the basic role of agriculture in China, its price may not include profit and external marginal cost.

3, sewage charges and license transactions

China's sewage charging system, because the charging standard is far lower than the operating cost of facilities, can not effectively stimulate enterprises to build and operate pollution control facilities and achieve pollution control objectives. Sewage charges can only stimulate the behavior of enterprises from the price, but can't control the increase of total pollution, and sewage permit trading is the trading of allowable emissions between enterprises on the premise of determining the total allowable pollution. The main feature of pollutant discharge permit trading is that the permit can be transferred and traded, but the pollutant discharge permit trading system requires that the annual runoff as the pollutant discharge recipient should be relatively stable, and a large number of pollution sources are very close, otherwise it will be difficult to determine the pollution control target and formulate the total amount of pollution received by the water body, resulting in serious water pollution in dry season and waste of water self-purification ability in wet season.

4. Tax means

Taxation belongs to the category of legal means, but because taxation is related to the economic interests of taxpayers, it is also an economic means, and the tax levied on water is a resource tax. There are two tax policies for the rational utilization of water resources: direct tax policy and indirect tax policy.

The direct tax policy is to add new taxes and levy water resource tax on the basis of the existing resource tax in China. Therefore, the most reasonable direct tax on water resources should be a single sewage tax.

The indirect tax policy is to adopt new equipment that is conducive to reducing sewage discharge, or to give tax reduction or exemption to water-saving technical equipment. For example, if an enterprise builds a sewage treatment project, a sewage comprehensive utilization project, or updates equipment to save water resources, it can reduce or exempt a certain percentage of income tax or other taxes, and can give accelerated depreciation to water-saving equipment or pollution control machinery and equipment.

5. Marketization of sewage treatment

Sewage treatment is an important part of saving water resources and protecting water environment, which can be said to play a decisive role in the protection and utilization of water resources. From the perspective of modern science and technology, more than 70% of sewage can be converted into reclaimed water to become commodities, which is equivalent to increasing the urban water supply by more than 50%. Therefore, sewage treatment should become an independent industry and let the market solve the sewage treatment problem. The key is to have a reasonable reclaimed water price to attract investment and arouse the enthusiasm of operators. Its price structure is that the price of reclaimed water is equal to the ratio of the total cost of sewage treatment to the total amount of reclaimed aquatic products in a certain period, plus the tax and reasonable profit of unit reclaimed aquatic products. The reclaimed water price calculated and determined according to this price model can play the role of economic lever and promote the development of sewage treatment industry.

Note: The writer Zhao Zhe is studying for a master's degree in economics.

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