Source:

04-03-2009 17:13

Water supply and sanitation in China is undergoing a massive transition while facing numerous challenges such as rapid urbanization, a widening gap between rich and poor as well as urban and rural areas. Water scarcity, contamination and pollution also pose great challenges.

Much has been achieved during the past decades in terms of increased access to services, increased municipal wastewater treatment, the creation of water and wastewater utilities that are legally and financially separated from local governments, and increasing cost recovery as part of the transformation of the Chinese economy to a more market-oriented system. The government has quadrupled investments in the sector during the current 2006–10 Five-Year Plan.

Nevertheless, much remains to be achieved. According to survey data analyzed by the Joint Monitoring Program for Water and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF, a staggering 300 million Chinese still do not have access to an improved water source, and about 750 million do not have access to improved sanitation. Progress in rural areas appears to lag behind what has been achieved in urban areas. There are also some operational problems. For example, many wastewater treatment plants do not operate properly, thus limiting the positive environmental impact of the major investments made.

 

Editor:Yang Jie