Study On River Basin Administration System For Management Of Water Resources In China

Water as a natural resource component of ecosystem is an essential element in supporting man's living and production activities. People have thus paid much attention throughout the history to water issues with particular concerns on exploitation and utilization of various types of water resources. As, however, being commonly treated as a resource that is everlasting and inexhaustible, importance of water resource conservation has less been recognized than has its values of utilization. Along with the rapid development of industry and agriculture and as well the improvement of people's living condition, conflicts between supply and demand of water resources have become more and more acute. Shortage of water resources, pollution of water environment and destruction of water ecosystems have become common problems in different regions of China and also in many other countries all over the world. It is an important and urgent issue to improve water resources management with objectives to resolve the conflict between utilization and conservation. Taking into consideration its characters of natural fluidity and ecology integrality, many countries in the world have adopted river basin administration systems for the management of water resources. Practices and experiences in our country have proved that the existing water resources management system divided into administrative districts and service functions are not effective and possess many disadvantages. The major problems associated with such system include: 1) separation of resource utilization and conservation; 2) difficulty in resolving conflicts among districts and between district individuality and river basin integrality; and 3) splitting and overlapping of management authorities and duties. On August 29, 2002 the section concerning water resource management system in the Water Act was partly revised by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. According to the new rules in the Water Act, the old model of governmental dominion divided into administrative levels and service functions will be replaced by a new form that combines river basin administration systems with district management services. The new rules provide a legal base for establishment of a river basin administration system as a hardcore in water resource management in China. From the analysis and comparison of different water resource management models that have been successfully applied in foreign countries, and reviews of research progresses made by experts in related fields focusing their work on water management issues, it is noticed that the causes that bring about the existing problems associated with the present water management system in China can be attributed to: 1) lack of well established concepts, theories and principles of environmental ethic and law such that the basic environment-related rights and obligations of the subject have not been clearly defined, and as a consequence people from different groups are more interested in consuming environmental resources than concerned about conserving them; 2) dispersedmanagement rights, duties and obligations at national administrative levels regarding utilization and conservation of natural resources, which consequentially leads further to a pattern of either splitting or overlapping of management authorities and duties in the subdivisions and departments at local levels; and 3) lack of mechanisms of supervision, consultation, intermediation and market performance, which in turn gives little support to establishing long term planning aiming at sustainable development but instead encourages people to take the advantage of the nature seeking as much as possible benefits in terms of economy in the short run. Reform and improvement of management systems for water resources in China demands first to build up a sound ground based on which rational concepts of environmental ethics and laws can be well established in the society. It is of further importance to make clear the definition of property rights and user rights of water resources such that all concerned departments, services and agencies, enterprises, stockholders, consumers, and as well as individuals are fully aware of their rights and obligations for both use and conservation of the resources. In consistency in principle with the theory of sustainable development, the strategy and the plan of development at both regional and national levels should be made with long term targets to conserve our natural resources for future generations while using them to obtain optimal benefits for ourselves. Based on the idea of combining the knowledge and experiences leamt from foreign countries with the feature, nature and roles of river basins in China, a multi-integrated management system with river basins as the hardcore in combination with regional service functions has been described and discussed with an attempt to provide for the authorities and decision-makers alternative approaches to reform and improvement of water resource management system in China. The basic form of the system proposed in this paper includes: a national administration with integrated management functions for natural resources with respect to utilization and conservation of the resources and protection of the environment; subordinated departments for river basins connecting district services; and local water resources management organizations adopting market regulating mechanisms and encouraging public participation. The local water association may consist of members representing different groups with interest and concern of water supply and water environment protection. Construction of related law and regulations has been further discussed as it is essential both in supporting the establishment of the management system and to ensuring its successful operation.