Safe drinking water will be available to the one hundred and
sixty million people living in China's rural areas in the next five
years and by 2015 all the country's rural residents will have
access to safe potable water, Minister of Water Resources Wang
Shucheng told Xinhua News Agency on Monday.
Wang said 312 million Chinese villagers are currently facing
water shortages or only have access to unsafe water contaminated by
fluorine, arsenic, high levels of salt or other organic or
industrial pollutants.
Although the budget has not been firmly set the minister said
the country planned to invest around 40 billion yuan (US$5 billion)
over the next ten years on safe water supply projects. Wang said
China was likely to far exceed its UN Millennium Development Goal
which was to reduce by half the number of people without access to
safe drinking water by 2015.
Worldwide one in every six people is without safe drinking water
and in China there are more than 50 diseases caused and spread by
unsafe water, said Zhai Haohui, Vice Minister of Water
Resources.
China's 11th five-year plan for 2006-2010, approved last March,
called for safe water to be provided to 100 million rural
residents. That target was raised to 160 million after a State
Council conference on rural drinking water safety held on August
30.
Wang said the increased pace in providing safe water to China's
rural areas was in line with the central government plan to build a
new socialist countryside. According to Wang the central government
would increase investment in rural water supply projects and
encourage more private investment in rural infrastructure
construction.
More capital from the central government would flow into the
poorer western regions of China in the coming years, said Wang. The
rich eastern region would be encouraged to open parts of its rural
water supply network to investors by offering them favorable
investment policies.
Water supply facilities in urban centers would be extended to
villages located in city suburbs. Villages far from urban areas
would benefit from the construction of water-supply facilities,
said the minister. In areas where water was contaminated special
water-treatment and supply facilities would be built, added
Wang.
Tang Min, chief economist with the China Mission of the Asian
Development Bank, told Xinhua that the Chinese government's
decision to provide accessible potable water to rural residents
displayed that China had aligned itself with the new concept of
scientific development and a "people-centered" approach.
Tang, who has studied China's rural problems, said great changes
had taken place in China's development strategy in recent years. It
had shifted from the simple pursuit of economic growth to a
harmonious development between economy and society.
Statistics with the Ministry of Water Resources indicate China's
per capita water resources are only a quarter of world average
levels. The ministry said China had completed more than three
million rural water supply projects since the country was
established in 1949 which benefited 273 million rural
residents.
China invested 22.3 billion yuan (US$2.79 billion) from 2001 to
2005 to provide 67 million people with safe water.
Wang said while China worked to resolve its own water problems
the country was contributing more to international efforts to solve
the world's water difficulties. In recent years China has assisted
fund 83 water and sanitation projects in developing countries and
sent many experts to African countries where they have worked on
local water supply projects.
(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2006)