Chinas Water Problems in the Context of U.S.-China Relations

China‘s Water Problems
in the Context of U.S.-China Relations

By Baruch Boxer

As the millennium approaches, China‘s phenomenal economic growth is a major driving force in the global economy. But failure in the coming decades to conserve and improve the quality of water resources will seriously undermine China‘s growth prospects and threaten its political stability. Water shortages, increasing flood damage, and rampant pollution threaten to undermine both short- and long-term modernization goals. It is uncertain, moreover, if sufficient fresh water will be available in the coming decades to accommodate China‘s growing water demands for agriculture, industry, energy development, and domestic supply.
This paper briefly reviews the cultural and physical aspects of China‘s precarious water situation, and discusses Chinese perspectives on problems and solutions. It then describes some successful public and private sector U.S. water-related initiatives in China, and concludes with recommendations for enhancing U.S. contributions to China‘s water conservation efforts in the overall framework of U.S.-China relations. This is an especially opportune time to expand cooperative water-focused scientific and technical programs that enhance China‘s capability to address problems while broadening the experience of the U.S. water management enterprise. To these ends, both sides have recently begun work on a framework for a comprehensive bilateral water resources management program.

The magnitude and implications of China‘s water problems are recognized in China and abroad, yet it is unclear whether China will be able to deal adequately with a host of water supply, water control, and water quality maintenance issues. With the problems acknowledged, the task now is to determine how remedial engineering, economic, and institutional measures specific to China‘s needs can be most effectively employed. Some limited steps are being taken in the critical agricultural, industrial, and energy sectors to conserve water and enhance water quality. Efforts to monitor and combat water pollution are taking on new urgency. It is nonetheless difficult to assess the efficacy of short- and long-term remedial measures, especially as they may benefit from official and private U.S. participation in water-related scientific, technical, and institutional development programs in China. There are two main reasons for this difficulty.

First, attempts to modify and reform water supply, conservation, control, and financing practices are strongly influenced by traditional values and perspectives. The organization and implementation of China‘s water program is still governed by long-standing assumptions that define a special place for water institutions and water knowledge in state governance and national security. In this period of rapid modernization, however, national water planning and management strategies must respond imaginatively to dramatically changing social and economic conditions. China‘s ability to create a water system that can adapt to these conditions will be a key determinant of China‘s ability to preserve the integrity of critical terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

New planning approaches, engineering strategies, and economic incentives are needed to quickly improve a rapidly deteriorating water situation. It is striking, however, that even in this heady period of free-for-all marketization, some basic Marxist ideological tenets, which have guided water policy for over fifty years, remain prominent. Despite some softening, these principles still assign to the central government primary responsibility for overcoming contradictions between land, population, water availability, and capital investment in attempts to achieve optimal economic productivity and societal well-being in the face of physical and "national land economic" constraints.1

The second reason why it is difficult to appreciate the scope and implications of China‘s water problems as they relate to U.S. interests is that, until recently, attempts to understand problems and their ecological and health implications have been confounded by political tensions in U.S.-China relations. Critical, and sometimes politically self-serving, accounts of China‘s environmental program were common throughout the early 1990s. While foreign observers now recognize China‘s growing commitment to developing a law-based, scientifically-informed, and technologically proficient environmental protection regime, many remain skeptical about its ultimate prospects given weakening central authority, bureaucratic obstacles, and intensifying water-related problems.

Most outside accounts of China‘s efforts, for example, still ignore factors that explain China‘s response, in its own terms, to pressing water problems: there are distinctive Chinese perspectives on these problems, which focus on the potential for improving the balance between national water policy goals and the specific institutional and programmatic adjustments essential for improved coordination of regional and local responses to water challenges. China is dealing with problems in its own way. The important task is to understand China‘s criteria for priority setting, its assumptions that guide scientific and technical work, and its allocation of human and financial resources. Increasingly serious conditions are fostering new approaches to problem assessment and remediation. These range from more sophisticated hydrological analysis as a basis for supply and demand estimates, to multiple objective optimization modeling of economic, demographic, and physical factors in support of national and regional water resources planning, management, and environmental protection.
Cultural Context
Ideas about the unique role of water in Chinese society are deeply rooted. In ancient times, for example, the physical properties of water were metaphorically associated with Confucian notions of good and bad attributes of human behavior.2 Institutional and technological adjustments to contemporary development-related water problems clearly reflect historical and cultural perspectives that shape problem definition and response.

Earlier notions of the effectiveness of water supply and control as a measure of the emperor‘s legitimacy, for example, are now expressed in the modern concept of shuili wenhua, or "shuili culture."3 The Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) promotes this concept as a rallying cry for popular identification with state efforts to recast its still dominant water engineering and development role in order to take advantage of newly emergent market opportunities and technological advancements.4 This illustrates how earlier ideas have been recast to support current political objectives. The MWR, through its research, engineering construction, and media programs, perpetuates the traditional role of water agencies at all levels as influential arms of government with special responsibility for supporting, nurturing, and sustaining society. The Ministry‘s self-appointed role as facilitator of harmonious relations between state and society, and guarantor of domestic stability, is as prominent today as in pre-modern China.

Throughout the Maoist period until the late 1970s, for example, the water enterprise was spurred mainly by a strident ideology that emphasized the high priority of water resource development and control in the party‘s program, and the special role of these activities in linking state and society in the quest for national political and social consolidation.5 The government now recognizes the threat to modernization from inadequate water supply, excessive pollution, and poor water control. It is therefore trying, with some success, to develop strategies that build on existing institutions, attitudes, ideologies, and engineering practices. New market-based approaches to more effective water supply, conservation, and quality maintenance are also being introduced. These, however, confront entrenched assumptions and practices that deter effective change.
Physical setting
Physical and climatic factors in China influence water availability and undermine supply and control measures. A key determinant is the sharp contrast between North and South China in the volume, frequency, and distribution of precipitation. Especially in North China, surface and groundwater supplies are unevenly distributed, and there is marked disparity and seasonal variability in water supply. Supply problems are compounded by widespread pollution.

In South China, in contrast, there is excessive precipitation. Frequent flooding occurs despite herculean flood prevention and control measures that have been vigorously pursued since the 1930s. Since the founding of the present government in 1949, China has constructed over 80,000 reservoirs for water detention, hydropower, and/or aquaculture. 245,000 kilometers (km) of dikes protect about 30 million hectares of farmland, 470 cities, 600 million people, and two-thirds of the country‘s industrial and agricultural production base. Despite these protective measures, China frequently suffers enormous physical and economic damage from extreme climatic events. Flood control is a major focus of the 1996-2000 Five-Year Plan. Floods threaten half of China‘s population, one-third of its agricultural land, and major cities that account for 70 percent of national industrial and agricultural output value.6

Problems stemming from imbalances in water availability and extreme weather conditions are compounded by fast-growing water demands for housing, transportation, industry, and other urban and rural development activities. Rural industrialization, construction of energy-generating facilities, and rail and road transportation networks disrupt water supplies and increase pollution. These activities also aggravate flood damage and intensify the harmful effects of soil erosion, deforestation, drought, and flood plain and wetland loss. Rampant development thus makes it more difficult to manage the health, economic, and environmental impacts of floods and other water-related hazards. There is major investment in hydraulic infrastructure such as dams, dikes, and water diversion projects since structural remedies are still viewed as the best short-term response to pressing water supply and control problems.
Chinese Perspectives
It is instructive to examine Chinese perspectives on problems and their remedies in order to gain a better understanding of China‘s water problems. This can provide a framework for evaluating present and future U.S. involvement in the China water scene, and perhaps suggest new approaches. Insight into how China perceives its water problems and sets priorities can be gained from several sources. These include MWR (Ministry of Water Resources) programmatic statements on objectives and activities in support of "sustainable utilization" goals; local and regional activities that respond to national policies; and assessments by leading scientists about the interplay of economic, engineering, ecological, and human factors in meeting water challenges.

To begin, the MWR recently outlined its water conservation and control objectives in an Agenda 21 review, which is part of China‘s comprehensive Agenda 21 statement on environmental commitments and plans following the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. The review emphasizes the ministry‘s dominant role in delineating problems, it defines programmatic objectives and activities, and stresses the urgency of water problems and their socioeconomic implications. An important feature of the statement is its setting of priorities, both in terms of broad areas of concern as well as specific steps that need to be pursued.

As is customary in Chinese presentations of environment-related data, the magnitude of the water crisis is initially presented in comparative per capita terms. China‘s per capita water reserve of 2,500 cubic meters (m3) is only one-fourth of the world‘s average. Thus, the immediate challenge is to devise long-term supply and conservation measures while simultaneously confronting immediate problems in seriously water-deficient areas such as North China, the Jiaozhou Peninsula in Shandong, and the Northwest. Regional shortages are also compounded by an annual national agricultural water deficit of 30 billion m3. This deficiency could be even greater, given variability in water sources and quality, and the notoriously inconsistent criteria used for measuring "effectively irrigated" agricultural areas, the standard Chinese accounting unit.7 Agriculture consumes approximately 80 percent of China‘s water supply, and drought-prone agricultural areas amount to roughly 20 million hectares. This results in heavy over-dependence on groundwater.

Groundwater is also a major source of water for cities and industry, and growing agricultural dependence on groundwater has led to critical urban water shortages. In 1990, 26 percent of China‘s population was considered urban, and it is estimated that by 2000, urban population will increase to about 500 million, roughly 35 percent of China‘s total population. Urban population growth and industrialization have already resulted in a daily water deficit of about 16 million m3 in over 300 cities. In southern cities, moreover, 60-70 percent of water shortages are pollution-related.

The MWR overview attributes urban shortages to four factors: (1) "resources limited," (2) "engineering induced," (3) "pollution triggered," and (4) "facility constrained." Seventy percent of water shortages in cities are attributable to the first three factors; supply deficiencies are rarely attributed to "facility constraints." This ranking may be intended to substantiate official claims that enormous construction efforts since the 1950s have been relatively successful, while implying the need for continued dependency on short-term structural measures for water storage and supply. Nonstructural approaches to enhancement of water supply, such as the introduction of more realistic water pricing, water-use valuation, and land-use zonation, are only beginning to be introduced. In some water-deficient urban areas in North China, for example, enforcement of new pricing policies which might lead to more realistic allocations of water in response to its real economic value (i.e., urban vs. agricultural) could quickly help to ameliorate the present critical situation.8

The magnitude of water shortages and deficiencies is dramatically highlighted in the context of economic growth projections. From this perspective, prospects for effective remedial measures at the national level seem increasingly problematic. It is predicted, for example, that at China‘s expected GNP level, annual water demand will reach 600 million m3 by 2000, assuming "conservation and rational use of water" and "medium-drought weather." Rational use of water and medium drought weather, however, are poorly defined concepts and their meaning is unclear. Rational location of economic activities in relation to physical and human resources, in particular, has been a frequently stated objective since the 1950s, but remains an elusive theoretical concept that has had little formal application in planning. This is especially true after China‘s opening in the late 1980s when market forces were unleashed. Water demand will probably grow 2-3 percent annually in the first decade of the 21st century, and by 2010 will reach about 720 million m3. This means supply capacity will have to increase by about 120 million m3 in ten years-an overwhelming task.

Given its immense responsibilities, and the obstacles it faces in achieving realistic goals at a time of declining central government authority and the vagaries of the market, the MWR has laid out a framework for action that encompasses seven broad areas that must be addressed at the national level. These include: (1) long-term supply and demand planning and assessment; (2) water source, water quality, and ecosystem protection; (3) groundwater conservation and sustainable use strategies; (4) assured domestic and industrial water supply; (5) pollution control and wastewater recycling; (6) the need to cope with the effects of climate change; and (7) the need for management reforms.

While the MWR‘s program is mainly a national blueprint, recently there have been successful attempts at provincial and local levels to translate these broad goals into workable programs. Qingdao, for example, introduced an integrated water management program in 1993. It implemented the recommendations of several local research projects on urban water supply planning and mid- and long-term supply and demand projections. Research data were applied in the development of a regulatory program that coordinates water supply from diverse sources while facilitating a comprehensive city-wide approach to water distribution, conservation, and pollution control in cooperation with the local environmental protection bureau. A permit system allocates water for industrial and agricultural users, domestic supply, and environmental protection in accordance with "rational" use values that reflect economic priorities. The Qingdao program is in its early stages and needs to be carefully managed to ensure sufficient water to meet growing demands as the economy develops, but it nonetheless illustrates the potential for effective integration of national and local efforts.9

At the provincial level, Guizhou‘s "water sector assessment" is a good example of the forthright response of a severely water-stressed area to opportunities for combining modern engineering and economic strategies to develop water resources on a sustainable basis while preserving ecological integrity in a fragile mountainous environment. Guizhou recognized early on that institutional and macroeconomic factors were the main obstacles to beneficial use and development of limited water resources.

To better understand the specific nature of physical and economic constraints of Guizhou‘s water resources, the provincial government undertook a series of short- and medium-term assessment programs. These activities initially focused on various aspects of cost recovery in water use, and the development of a demand management system in tandem with physical infrastructure consolidation and rehabilitation. These studies were designed to help improve the quality and effectiveness of investment decisions for the water sector while balancing environmental protection and economic development needs.10

The Guizhou assessment seeks to improve provincial capability in financing water sector activities, and to reduce dependency on central technical and financial support. In this regard, it illustrates how a powerful center-province relationship in water matters still shapes policies and programs. In China, national and local problems are closely linked through common perspectives on their human impacts, constraints on development, and strategic goals. Even at a time of increasing provincial autonomy in development policies and investment decisions, when it comes to water supply, conservation, flood and drought relief, and infrastructure investment, policy decisions are still strongly influenced by national perspectives and priorities reflecting a very strong party role in water engineering education and training, construction planning and management, and international programs.

The scientific and institutional foundation of national water policy provides the context and defines the scope for official and private sector U.S. involvement in China‘s water affairs. Before turning to specific examples of this involvement, however, it will be helpful to briefly explore some theoretical perspectives that govern national priority setting and investment decision making in water matters. In China, hydrological and economic assumptions governing water planning and policymaking, and the choice of engineering solutions, are framed by theoretical perspectives on the human ecology of water supply, demand, and control. These perspectives reflect China‘s demographic and physical realities, and the pressing need to think creatively at the national level about how planning and engineering strategies can best address numerous constraints.

A 1996 interview with a leading hydrologist/physical geographer, Liu Changming, in the main general interest journal of the MWR, Zhongguo shuili (China Water Resources), is suggestive of these perspectives. It confirms the necessity in China of taking into account the human dimensions of problems and their impacts in the process of developing engineering solutions. As a hydrologist, Liu seeks better understanding of the physical characteristics and dynamics of China‘s water regime. As a geographer, he applies scientific knowledge about water supply, movement, hazard, and uncertainty in considering the implications, for China, of changing relations among "people, water, and the environment" in the context of China‘s rapid development. Integration of "people, water, and the environment" has, of course, always been the primary goal of water management in China, and the success or failure of these efforts is a primary measure of the effectiveness and legitimacy of state governance.11

Liu suggests that the key to achieving water "sustainability" is overcoming contradictions between natural and human landscape features and adjusting to the uncertainties implicit in the fact that water in China is simultaneously beneficial and harmful in an unusually tightly circumscribed spatial and temporal framework. Priorities such as urban water supply, therefore, must be addressed in a manner that acknowledges the difficulties of engineering the environment while using economic criteria to shape "national land use" in keeping with regional variability in water supply. This is manifested, for example, in the urban water supply problem in what he calls the "strong water" and "weak water" phenomenon. Here, extensive reservoir construction over forty years has supported urban development and agricultural production in peri-urban areas by concentrating and regulating urban supply. In so doing, however, it has undermined the benefits of the natural rhythms of "weak water," which is defined as ground and surface water supply, soil nutrient replenishment, and pollutant dilution and dispersal.

According to Liu, the essence of China‘s water management challenge is how to balance "strong" and "weak" water so that the benefits of engineered solutions such as increased reservoir capacity, dike reinforcement, and inter-basin water transfer projects are enhanced through improving the natural ability of river systems to supply water, disperse or detain excess water, dilute pollution, and generate power. This can be accomplished, for example, through expansion of "low head" hydropower generation facilities, better wetland protection, and slowing the rate of land reclamation.
U.S. Involvement
Given the diversity, complexity, and the unique physical and cultural contexts of water problems in China, what should be the nature and extent of U.S. involvement in China‘s water science, engineering, planning, and policymaking? What are the mutual benefits of such involvement? At what level should they be fostered? And, what can be learned from the recent experience of public and private sector groups?

There have been extensive official U.S. contacts with China since the early 1980s relating to water issues. These include high level discussions in support of broad environmental sustainability goals; cooperative scientific research programs at national and regional levels; information generation and dissemination through research conferences and publications; and technology-focused trade development in the water supply, agricultural, pollution control, and energy sectors.

About a dozen U.S. government agencies have cooperative programs with China that focus on various aspects of water supply, quality enhancement, planning, and control. Some programs were originally developed under the aegis of the 1979 U.S.-China umbrella agreement on science and technology. Over the years, they have facilitated productive contacts between Chinese and U.S. scientists and engineers in diverse fields including hydrogeology, hydrology, fluvial hydrodynamics, dam engineering, flood monitoring, estuarine studies, industrial site remediation, pollution control, agricultural meteorology, ocean-atmosphere dynamics, and other areas.

While these programs have helped build close personal ties between American and Chinese scientists and engineers, they have not for the most part directly benefited short-term water management efforts in China. Part of the problem is inadequate financial support and jurisdictional disputes among sponsoring agencies in China and the United States. This undermines the strong commitment of many Chinese and American scientists and managers who wish to ameliorate the impacts of water shortage and poor water quality on people and the environment, and improve conditions at regional, prefectural, and local levels through timely application of research results and technical knowledge.

A few exemplary programs, however, appear to have surmounted these obstacles. These programs have the potential to build upon standard information exchange and technical assistance activities to help Chinese managers deal more effectively with water problems. Several relatively low-cost program development, technical training, and scientific cooperation initiatives are already having an impact in China while spawning new initiatives that will further expand mutually beneficial ties.

A good example is the U.S. Geological Survey‘s (USGS) joint project with the MWR‘s Hai River Commission. This project was initiated under the water quality annex of the Surface Water Protocol between USGS and MWR‘s Department of Hydrology. The project supports water quality management efforts in a rapidly developing 5,000 square kilometer agricultural and urbanized area of the North China coastal plain around Tangshan. Water quality in the Tangshan area will be compared with the Delmarva Peninsula and the Sacramento Valley using similar assessment procedures. The project ultimately will improve understanding of the effects of land use on groundwater quality in drainage basins with similar hydrogeological characteristics, but with varying climates and land use patterns.

Chinese participants are enthusiastic about this cooperative effort because it will help managers and scientists in the Hai River Commission apply methodologies for determining water quality conditions and trends similar to those used in the USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program. To facilitate comparison, USGS scientists are helping Chinese counterparts develop a Hai River database to analyze several aspects of the relationship between land use, groundwater flow, and water quality in the context of overall ground and surface water exchange processes.

While the USGS program is designed mainly to improve water quality monitoring and assessment in a critically water-deficient region, a recent Bureau of Reclamation (Department of the Interior) initiative has laid the foundation for further contacts between China and the United States in several other important water management domains. In May 1995, the Bureau co-sponsored a "Symposium on Sustainable Water Resources Development" with the MWR. The symposium involved officials from both countries responsible for municipal water supply, regional water planning and management, agricultural water use, and other research, regulatory, and training activities in support of water sustainability goals. The symposium addressed water issues of major importance to both the United States and China, and provided an opportunity for officials on both sides to share perspectives and experiences in specific areas such as irrigation, urban water demand management, river basin planning, and water policy and law.

The symposium has had beneficial results that go well beyond scientific and technical information exchange. It directly facilitated contacts, for example, between Chinese officials and American firms interested in applying state-of-the-art low volume irrigation technology. One result of these contacts has been the establishment in China of about a dozen projects by a leading American international irrigation technology firm. The first project is well established in several fruit growing areas of Shandong. The success of the Shandong operation has led to additional open field, horticultural, and fruit growing irrigation projects that involve equipment purchases, installation, and transfer of technical knowledge in Liaoning, Ningxia, Heilongjiang, Hainan, and five other Chinese provinces.

The background of this firm‘s operations in Shandong is instructive. It illustrates the mutual benefits that can result from a well-managed U.S. government program when implemented at a scale and cost level commensurate with Chinese short-term water saving needs in a specific locale. Success also reflects U.S. and Chinese sensitivity to the importance of integrating technical aspects of the program with a realistic assessment of appropriate ways to overcome institutional barriers on the Chinese side while still promoting economic benefits for both China and the United States. In this case, the short-term economic benefits of water conservation and increased fruit production became so obvious to Chinese water officials, that one MWR official began to work part-time for the American firm to improve administrative and financial relations between the MWR in Beijing and its provincial counterpart.

There are two other exemplary U.S. programs in China that complement and enhance Chinese work by clarifying agricultural water needs and bringing technical, scientific, and management expertise to bear on specific agricultural water supply and river pollution problems. The first involves data collection and analysis of agricultural water availability and use in the Hai River basin by the U.S. Department of Agriculture‘s Economic Research Service (ERS). ERS field reporting primarily supports analysis of Chinese grain markets and growing conditions to help estimate potential U.S.-China trade in agricultural commodities, especially Chinese grain import needs. Assessment of Hai basin water needs and recommendations for improving the efficiency of water use through technical and economic measures, however, can also support Chinese efforts to improve water planning and management.

Another U.S. program which targets technical assistance with immediate application is the Environmental Protection Agency‘s technical cooperation agreement with China‘s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). Initiated in 1995, this program has been designed to help improve industrial pollution monitoring and wastewater treatment as part of the SEPA-directed Huai River regional water pollution control program. Supported by the World Bank, the program is probably the most extensive inter-provincial environmental initiative in China.12

The program was established to develop cooperative basin-wide regulatory authority in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and Shandong provinces to control untreated industrial wastewater discharges along the Huai River and its tributaries, and to force closure of firms that violate emission standards. It was established by the central government after a serious pollution event in 1995 caused massive fish kills and threatened the drinking water supplies of millions of Chinese. It is the first inter-province agreement with authority to allocate allowable pollution discharge levels by province. In late 1997, EPA organized and supported a workshop on monitoring techniques and has also contracted with an American environmental consulting firm to work with provincial officials to improve monitoring of industrial pollutants and to support enterprise-based industrial pollution prevention measures. Some polluting factories have already been closed. Institutional arrangements for pollution monitoring, assessment, and regulation developed for the Huai may also be applied in other areas such as the Hai River basin.
Conclusion
China‘s water problems are a major threat to its modernization drive. Worsening water shortages and vulnerability to natural hazards are an inevitable outcome of the dramatic transformation of rural landscapes accompanying market driven urbanization and increasing industrialization. Water surplus and deficits have always posed special challenges for state and society in China. These challenges were addressed locally through effectively implemented programs that sustained social and economic development while maintaining the biological integrity of food production systems despite the disruptive effects of floods and droughts, internal conflicts, external pressures, and environmental degradation. Engineering and institutional measures that counter water shortages and mitigate natural hazards build upon a long tradition of experimentation and knowledge to better understand how the water environment can be best managed to support a growing population on limited arable land. Earlier perspectives on state responsibility for managing the water enterprise are being modified to facilitate the integration of traditional center-directed technical and institutional approaches with modern, market sensitive, economic, engineering, and planning strategies. In a sense, China‘s water resources have always been in a state of "crisis." Water "crises," however, have been the driving force for adjustments in the relations between people and nature that have supported the longevity of Chinese society.

In this context, China‘s water problems present unusual challenges and opportunities in the wider frame of U.S.-China relations. Mutual efforts to address problems can help develop and maintain the quality of a critical resource. It is evident from two decades of official exchanges in water-related fields that there is growing interest among water professionals on both sides in furthering cooperative research and assessment programs, and in sharing information on engineering, economic, and scientific strategies for addressing short- and long-term problems. In the early 1980s when bilateral contacts were initiated, there was some resentment on the U.S. side that Chinese partners were taking advantage of the exchange protocols to improve their science and engineering after a long period of isolation from international science. U.S. participants found work with Chinese colleagues stimulating, but there was consensus among participants that the Chinese were probably benefiting the most.

This is no longer the case. In recent years, the most active programs have stimulated interest on both sides in expanding activities in China and the United States to help strengthen the Chinese water enterprise. A main goal is to improve understanding of how new approaches to water control, supply, conservation, and quality maintenance being developed in the United States can be most efficaciously applied in China. This is exemplified in the USGS water-quality monitoring activity described above, as well as in other areas. Both sides see that mutual benefits from the programs can be best achieved through clearly defined, precisely targeted, low cost activities that have immediate application in China and provide opportunities for U.S. companies to market technology and equipment.

A main obstacle to expanded activity on both sides is limited funds. This is unfortunate, as U.S. officials have indicated that small increases in funding could enable significant expansion of existing programs into new localities and increase Chinese participation. Chinese and American program managers are enthusiastic about extending programs.

There are many short- and long-term benefits to the United States from an expanded program of cooperation in water resources management. Water issues in China are closely tied to other important aspects of political and economic relations between the United States and China. For example, improved water conservation and hydropower expansion in support of a less coal-dependent energy policy will have a direct bearing on China‘s ability to meet emission reduction targets of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Enhanced communication and mutual respect in water affairs will also benefit discussions in sensitive areas such as military cooperation and national security, as well as in attempts to resolve trade disputes.

The challenges U.S. agencies must overcome in sharing technical knowledge, engineering, and policy applications with China will also enhance the ability of U.S. federal and state water managers to address domestic water supply, control, conservation, and pollution prevention concerns. This experience will additionally help expand international commercial opportunities for U.S. management and consultant firms, and equipment manufacturers in areas such as irrigation technology, waste water treatment and pollution control, and ecosystem protection and restoration.

Perhaps the greatest benefit for the United States from this program will be the positive contribution it will make to strengthening the ecological foundation of China‘s economy at a time of rapid growth. Cooperation on water issues will help define specific opportunities and limitations in plans to achieve vague "sustainability" objectives in both countries‘ efforts to develop new technical and institutional strategies for water management. China‘s economic performance and political stability is closely dependent upon a stable, clean, and well-controlled water regime. U.S.-China cooperation in this area will contribute importantly to achieving these objectives.

As the global environment becomes increasingly stressed by human activity, the international community is faced with the difficult task of transforming rhetorical calls for multilateral action into practical programs that can mitigate pressing problems in specific places. The provision of fresh water and maintaining its quality have been a major focus of multilateral United Nations and national efforts since the early 1970s. It is clear, however, that inadequately funded and poorly administered global programs have not had a significant impact. The ecological and human effects of water development projects have become intolerable in many places and are having adverse effects on people and the environment. Basic sanitation facilities are unavailable for millions susceptible to water-borne disease. Prospects for increasing agricultural production and improving nutritional levels are problematic because of decreasing supplies of water for irrigation.

China‘s water problems pose an enormous challenge with global implications. As U.S. discussions with China focus more extensively on domestic and international environmental matters, existing water-related bilateral programs can serve as a foundation for the development of further ties to explore water dimensions of energy, agriculture, and other environmental concerns by building on successful small programs to expand opportunities into other problem areas. While broadly sketched, well-intentioned pronouncements on both sides of their commitment to poorly-defined "sustainable development" goals are appealing, good intentions are seldom transformed into productive programs.

Even when there is substantial high level dialogue, as illustrated by the October 1997 promulgation of the U.S.-China Energy and Environment Initiative, it is becoming more evident that ongoing discussions of various approaches to enhanced U.S.-China environmental cooperation must include consideration of water dimensions of pollution, public health, ecosystem protection, land use planning, agriculture, and other areas.

Water concerns are, in fact, becoming a central focus of the U.S-China environmental dialog. Official efforts underway in the United States and China to develop an agenda for a late 1998 bilateral workshop on water resources management illustrate the difficulties on both sides of balancing technical and institutional goals in efforts to build cooperative programs. It is especially important that technical approaches to problem solving are framed so that they are sensitive to uniquely Chinese institutional and cultural constraints.

Baruch Boxer is professor of geography and environmental sciences at Cook College, Rutgers University, and is a visiting scholar at Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C. His work focuses on the interplay of technical and cultural aspects of water resources management in modern China.
Endnotes
1 He Zuoxiu, "Shui yu Zhongguo de ‘kechixufazhan‘ zhanlue wenti," (Issues Relating to Water and China‘s "Sustainable Development" Strategy) Zhongguo shuili (China Water Resources) 7(1997): 46.
2 Sarah Allan, The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997), Ch. 2.
3 "shuili," (water benefits), is a general term encompassing technical, institutional and historical-cultural aspects of the Chinese water enterprise.
4 Zhao Jianzong, "Lun shuili wenhua," (Discussion of "Shuili" Culture), Zhongguo shuili (China Water Resources), 10(1996): 51-52.
5 See, for example, Zhi huai (Huadong renmin chubanshe, 1952); Henan Province Yu County Communist Party Committee, Gaoshan ditou heshui ranglu (The Mountains Bow Their Heads, the Rivers Give Way) (Beijing: Renminchubanshe, 1958).
6 "Flood Control: An Arduous and Prolonged Task," Beijing Review. October 30-November 8, 1995, 15-18.; State Science and Technology Commission, China Science and Technology Newsletter, 30 November 1996.
7 See James E. Nickum, Dam Lies and Other Statistics; Taking the Measure of Irrigation in China, 1931-91. East-West Center Occasional Papers. Environment Series; No. 18 (Honolulu: East-West Center, 1995).
8 Ren Guangzhao, "Sustainable Utilization of Water Resources-Ministry of Water Resources Agenda 21." Paper presented at the Symposium on Sustainable Water Resources Utilization, Beijing, 8-9 May 1995.
9 Zhou Zhiteng, "Integrated Water Resources Management in Qingdao City," Paper presented at the Symposium on Sustainable Water Resources Utilization, Beijing, 8-9 May 1995.
10 Li Yuanyuan, "Water Sector Assessment in Guizhou," Paper presented at the Symposium on Sustainable Water Resources Utilization, Beijing, 8-9 May 1995.
11 Liu Changming, "Shui ziyuan qingjie (Water Resources Interconnections)," Zhongguo shuili (China Water Resources), 5(1996): 24-25.
12 Zhao Wujing, "Shui ziyuan baohu he shui wuran fangzhi shi zhihuai de zhongyao renwu" (Water Resources Protection and Pollution Control are a Major Task of the Huai River Management Program), Zhongguo shuili, 8(1997): 24.

close

www.h2o-china.com