China water : a bottleneck as well as an opportunity

business-times.asia1.com.sg :

While reform in the past 26 years has transformed China and the world hails it as a country that has managed to lift its people from poverty on such a large scale and in such a short period of time, some are more concerned about the sustainability of the Chinese economic miracle. Besides facing the four traditional bottlenecks (oil, electricity, coal and transportation), China is increasingly suffering from a shortage of another resource - water.

China's water resources per capita is less than 25% of the world's average. Currently, among China's 660-odd cities, more than 400 of them suffer from water shortage. To make things worse, the shortage is worsened by water pollution. At end-2004, out of the 660-odd cities in China, nearly 300 of them had no sewage treatment plants. Most of China's rivers and lakes, if not all of them, are polluted. A recent survey showed that more than 90% of cities' underground water is polluted. The Songhuajiang and Beijiang water contamination incident showed the fragility of China's potable water supply safety system.

It may be easy for China to import oil, but it will prove far more difficult, if not wholly impossible, for the country to import potable water to sustain 1.3 billion people. But water, unlike oil, can be reused. Singapore's Newater programme is a good example. The reason why new water (high-quality reclaimed water) is only at its early stage in China is because it used to be economically unviable. With the water shortage and pollution problems worsening in China, the government has reiterated that the water price will increase further. New water production will evolve into a great opportunity for international players. This market in China amounts to almost zero now. Something is about to happen - soon.

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