The State Council’s ＂Water Ten Articles＂ proposes that more than 70% of the seven key river basins will have excellent water quality by 2020.

The State Council’s "Water Ten Articles" proposes that by 2020, more than 70% of the seven key river basins will have excellent water quality.
From the water source to the faucet!

The sight of clear water and playing with water has become the memory of some people’s childhood. Instead, rivers and lakes are black and smelly, cyanobacteria are frequent, and fish ponds are turning white. And the water pollution incidents make people feel the pain of water pollution. Moreover, water has become a key factor restricting the development of many places. It is urgent to save the water environment.

On 16th, the State Council officially issued the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control (referred to as "Water Ten Articles"), which pointed out the direction and goal of water pollution prevention and control in China at present and in the future.

The discharge far exceeds the environmental capacity, with 11,000 sudden water environmental incidents since 1995.

Since the Ninth Five-Year Plan, China has concentrated on comprehensive improvement of key river basins such as "Three Rivers and Three Lakes". Since the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, China has vigorously promoted pollution reduction and achieved positive results in water environmental protection. However, the serious situation of water pollution in China has not been fundamentally curbed.

"Poor quality of water environment, unreasonable development of water resources, crowding out ecological water, serious damage to water ecology and many hidden dangers in water environment are the biggest problems in water pollution prevention and control." According to the introduction of the feldspar effect volume of the Drinking Water Source Protection Division of the Pollution Prevention Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, at present, China’s industrial, agricultural and domestic pollution discharge load is large, far exceeding the environmental capacity. High emissions and unreasonable industrial layout lead to frequent environmental emergencies. Since 1995, there have been 11,000 sudden water environmental incidents in China. In 2014 alone, 60 of the 98 major and sensitive sudden environmental incidents dispatched and reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection involved water pollution, which seriously affected people’s production and life.

Liao Wengen, deputy chief engineer of China Water Conservancy and Hydropower Planning and Design Institute, said that China’s per capita water resources are small, and the spatial and temporal distribution is seriously uneven. Water use efficiency is low and water resources are wasted seriously. The water consumption per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value is 2-3 times of the world advanced level; Over-exploitation of local water resources exceeds the renewable capacity of water resources. "The utilization rates of water resources in Haihe River, Yellow River and Liaohe River basins are as high as 106%, 82% and 76% respectively, far exceeding the internationally recognized ecological warning line of 40% for water resources development." In addition, the area of groundwater over-exploitation area in China reached 230,000 square kilometers, causing land subsidence and seawater intrusion.

"Solving the water environment problem has strong strategic significance." Wu Shunze, one of the main drafters of the "Water Ten Articles" and vice president of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that the successive "Water Ten Articles" and "Atmosphere Ten Articles" demonstrated the determination and confidence of the country to fully implement the three strategies of atmosphere, water and soil control.

The target design is more suitable for the people’s feelings, and it is impossible to achieve it with conventional governance measures.

The goal of "Water Ten Articles" is: by 2020, the national water environment quality will be improved in stages, and the water ecological environment in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta will be improved. By 2030, we will strive to improve the overall quality of the water environment in the country and restore the functions of the water ecosystem initially. By the middle of this century, the quality of ecological environment has been improved in an all-round way, and the ecosystem has achieved a virtuous circle.

In addition to the work objectives, there are also major indicators. For example, by 2020, the proportion of excellent water quality (reaching or better than Class III) in seven key river basins will reach more than 70%, the black and odorous water bodies in the built-up areas of cities at prefecture level and above will be controlled within 10%, and the proportion of poor groundwater quality in the country will be controlled at around 15%. By 2030, the proportion of excellent water quality in seven key river basins in China will reach more than 75% as a whole, the black and odorous water bodies in urban built-up areas will be eliminated as a whole, and the proportion of urban centralized drinking water sources reaching or better than Grade III will be about 95% as a whole.

Wu Shunze said that these goals focus on the front and back of people’s houses, small ditches and small branches, focus on water tanks and faucets of thousands of households, and put forward specific indicators such as drinking water source protection and urban black and odorous water body remediation, so that the effect of water pollution control is more suitable for people’s feelings.

Are these goals with timetables realistic and can they be achieved smoothly?

"It is impossible to achieve with conventional governance measures, but we must work hard to achieve the goal that can be achieved with real attention, real pressure and real investment." Bai Qiuyong, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Department of Jiangsu Province, said that from the single environmental quality improvement to the ecological improvement and then to the virtuous circle of the ecosystem, the goals involved in the "Water Ten Articles" are gradually progressive, which is highly scientific and operable.

Ren Nanqi, an academician of China Academy of Engineering and vice-president of Harbin Institute of Technology, is very happy to see that eliminating the black odor of urban water bodies has become one of the goals of the "Water Ten Articles". He believes that this is one of the problems that people have the strongest reaction to the water environment, but it is very difficult to solve. "In order to achieve the goal, we must consider sewage interception, treatment, water supply, drainage and even sewage utilization as a whole, so as to control the whole life cycle of water."

Ren Tianzhi, director of the Environmental Protection Research and Monitoring Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, expressed his concern. Watershed management, water ecological improvement and groundwater quality improvement are closely related to rural non-point source pollution control, but the trend of excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is difficult to change in the short term because of the long-term concept of maintaining and increasing production. "It is really difficult for agricultural production not only to change the existing pollution situation, but also to guard against risks."

The effect of expanding industry is obvious, which is expected to boost GDP growth by about 5.7 trillion yuan.

At present, the downward pressure on the economy is not small. Will it have a negative impact when it is introduced at such an opportunity?

Ren Nanqi said that the "Water Ten Rules" will definitely have an impact on the industrial economy, but it is also a good condition for creating a level playing field. "For enterprises, the implementation of the new environmental protection law has brought good influence, the consciousness of pollution control of enterprises is improving, and the competitive advantage of enterprises will also be reflected in the ability and level of environmental governance."

Fu Tao, president of E20 Environmental Industry Research Institute, said that according to relevant calculations, by 2020, it will take about 4 trillion to 5 trillion yuan to complete the corresponding goal of "Water Ten"; Among them, the investment in the past three years is about 2 trillion yuan, which requires local governments at all levels to invest about 1.5 trillion yuan.

The increase in investment is not only a burden, but also will promote economic restructuring and industrial development. "It is generally understood that some enterprises have to be shut down to control pollution, which may affect the economic growth rate. However, it should also be noted that implementation means huge investment demand and can stimulate the development of environmental industries. " Luo Jianhua, secretary general of the Environmental Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said.

Wu Shunze told reporters that the implementation of the "Water Ten Articles" is expected to boost GDP growth by about 5.7 trillion yuan, increase non-agricultural employment by about 3.9 million people, increase the proportion of service industry in GDP by 2.3%, and achieve win-win environmental, economic and social benefits. On the other hand, the implementation of "Water Ten Articles" will drive the environmental protection industry to increase its output value by about 1.9 trillion yuan, of which 1.4 trillion yuan will be directly purchased from environmental protection industry products and services, and the environmental protection industry will become a new economic growth point.

Government supervision, market incentives and public participation are organically combined, and 90 of the 238 specific measures are reform and innovation.

The "Water Ten Articles" put forward 10 articles and 35 paragraphs, with a total of 238 specific measures. What are the differences compared with the past? Can we solve the chronic diseases such as "Jiulong Water Control"?

Wu Shunze explained that among the governance measures, 136 are improvement and strengthening, 90 are reform and innovation, such as the implementation of "red and yellow card" management for enterprises exceeding the standard, and 12 are exploratory, such as the study and establishment of a national environmental Ombudsman system. All measures adhere to the problem-oriented policy, among which, 65 are aimed at improving the quality of water environment, 55 are measures to restore and protect water ecology, 48 are measures to prevent environmental hidden dangers, and 70 are comprehensive measures.

Important reform measures are mainly embodied in 12 new ideas, new ideas and new measures. Including perfecting the control system of natural resources use, perfecting the system of water conservation and intensive use, and implementing the system of paid use of resources and ecological compensation in delineating the red line of ecological protection and establishing the monitoring and early warning mechanism of resources and environmental carrying capacity.

Taking the implementation of the system of paid use of resources as an example, the measures put forward to speed up the water price reform: the residential ladder water price system will be fully implemented by the end of 2015, and the non-residential water consumption exceeding the quota and exceeding the planned progressive price increase system will be fully implemented by the end of 2020. At the same time, the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price will be further promoted, and land withdrawal and water reduction will be tried out in areas with serious water shortage.

Among these reform measures, developing the environmental protection market and attracting social capital to invest in ecological environmental protection attract attention. Luo Jianhua said that the organic combination of government supervision, market incentives and public participation to jointly promote the realization of water pollution control goals is a highlight of the "Water Ten Articles".

On the other hand, the supervision mode of enterprises will also undergo great changes. Bai Qiuyong said that strengthening corporate responsibility will stimulate enterprises to change from passively accepting supervision to actively and consciously asking for guidance on how to do it without breaking the law and changing the original "cat-and-mouse" supervision model.

Can the chronic disease of "Jiulong Water Control" be cured during the implementation of "Water Ten Articles"? Wu Shunze said that each work has clearly defined the lead unit and participating departments, and coordination is the foundation of implementation.

Is the technical means enough? What about land and sea planning? How to grasp social co-governance? Along with this innovative water control program, there are a series of problems. How to answer, waiting for the actual actions of various localities and departments.