Water Resources Allocation in the People's Republic of China

Water pollution during China's industrial transition

“…For example, the Yellow river, China's second longest river, has run dry before reaching the sea over 30 times since it first dried up in recorded history in 1972. Extensive diversion, largely for agricultural irrigation, was the primary cause of the drying up, while global climate change also contributed to the declined water supply from the upper section (Shen, 2010;Shen and Speed, 2009). With insufficient stream flows left in the water courses, the over-abstraction not only compromised the river eco-systems, but also significantly reduced their capacity to accommodate pollutants.…”

“…On the other hand, demand from agricultural use, which claims over 60% of China's water supply, has been declining with the introduction of water-saving irrigation technologies and drought-resistant crops (MWR (Ministry of Water Resources), 2007,2010,2012). The rising water demand has been met largely by increasing the abstraction from underground and water courses, which caused significant damages to the freshwater and estuarine ecosystems (Shen and Speed, 2009;Wang et al, 2009). Fig.…”

Exploring China’s Farmer-Level Water-Saving Mechanisms: Analysis of an Experiment Conducted in Taocheng District, Hebei Province

“…The Yellow River Water Allocation Plan, approved by the State Council in 1987, is an example of a basin-level water rights allocation scheme, as it apportions water resources among the 10 provinces that utilize the river's water. By following this, the implementation of absolute regional water use control via a water rights system has gradually expanded throughout the basin [30]. Elsewhere, in 2000, Dongyang City and Yiwu City in Zhejiang Province of eastern China agreed to a region-level water transfer scheme, which is widely regarded as the first such arrangement in China.…”

“…A number of ministerial and regional guidelines and directives related to water transfers have been issued over the last decade or so [18]. The framework for the allocation and management of China's water resources was established by the 2002 Water Law [30]. China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) [31] prioritizes the improvement of water resource management.…”

Water Rights Allocation, Management and Trading in an Irrigation District - A Case Study of Northwestern China

“…In recent decades, with the introduction of the global experiences of water rights reform, volumetric water right and its allocation system have been implemented across the China to a varying degree (Gao, 2006;Shen & Speed, 2009), and replaced the traditional water allocation system in most of the rivers. This has raised many conflicts in the reforms.…”