Regional Water Rights System Reform

The fast increase of water resources consumption and lack of water supply have been the most important restricted element for the national economy and social development. It is proposed that allocation of water resources based on market for enhancing the efficiency of water resources utilization, as the allocation of water resources based on the administration does not meet the development need of the social market economy. The recent water law enacted in 2002 has pointed out the rule of combination of basin management with regional management. It has been remarkable about how to reform the present water rights regulation system under the framework of new-enacted water law and about how to optimize allocating the regional water resources by market means to improve the efficiency.Aimed at these problems, the basic framework of regional water rights regulation system establishment during interim is discussed in this paper. Optimizing the allocation of water resources through market mechanism is the goal of water rights regulation system reformation. Initial allocation of water resources is the base for market-oriented allocation of water rights, in which the main format of water rights is basin based to assign water rights clearly. Reasonable water rights price and market supervision and management mechanism are the guarantee for the efficiency and fairness of water rights allocation.This paper compares the water rights regulation system between China and other countries, as well as the recent water law and previous one to analyze the problem existing in the present regional water rights system. Then it is proved that the basin management based regional water rights system cooperated with macro-control and market operation is scientific and advantageous through the mathematical models describing the water resources conflicts applied with the game theory analysis of property rights. As a result, the feasible policy suggestion is proposed through the study of four profiles of water rights regulation system, which are water rights allocation system, water rights price system, water rights market operation system and water rights market management system.