China Water: May 24, 2008: Shanghai announces drop in water demand.

First, some explanation: The story describes a drop in water consumption in Shanghai. However the actual amount dropped is confusing, and it's possible there really hasn't been much of a drop . The statistic used to announce a drop in water is to tie the water consumption into amount of money expended. Note that they refer to use of water "per 10,000 yuan output." (The yuan being the unit of currency in China.) .

[As mentioned in May 22, 2008's earthquake relief postings, all city water systems lose some amount of water due to leakage of the system and other loss enroute, and sometimes this rate of loss is surprisingly high.]

This is not explained very well in the article. (Speaking as a former newspaper reporter, I have a suspicion that the reporter might not have understood the statistics himself and may have tried to "write around" his lack of understanding.)

However, it is explained in another news piece from China (reposted in "China Water: May 24, 2008: Shanghai water quality improvements announced.")

According to this story:

http://english.hanban.edu.cn/english/LI-e/34207.htm

"Zhang [Zhang Yue, director of the Urban Construction Division under the Ministry of Construction] is a member of the enquiry team sent by the central government to examine the city's qualification to be ranked as one of the first batch of water-saving cities in the country.

He said attaching strategic importance to water saving will help guarantee the sustainable development of China's economy.

Saving one cubic meter of water means saving the city's infrastructure costs by 10,000 yuan (US$1,2000). Last year, Shanghai saved 300 million cubic meters of water either from readjustment of industrial structure or the employment of new technology."

So therefore what it appears is that Shanghai is not actually reducing the need for water so much as redistributing it more efficiently within an improved city infrastructure. It probably also refers and implies less loss from leakage enroute than an actual reduction in demand.

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Also please note that the piece quotes "Zhang Yue, director of the Urban Construction Division under the Ministry of Construction." The China Urban Water Association, mentioned in yesterday's posting as possibly having a new head of the department, is also under the Ministry of Construction. As mentioned there, the role of government in China's water system is confusing and difficult to understand, just as it is in the United States.

Therefore, without further comment, here's the actual government written story.

Peter Huston

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Shanghai: Water Demand Per 10,000 Yuan Output drops
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15:22, May 12, 2008

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6408858.html


May 11th is the first day of "National Urban Water Saving Publicity Week." The Shanghai Water Supplies Department announced on this day that Shanghai has started to create a water-saving society after becoming a national water-saving city. Currently, Shanghai's water demand per 10,000 yuan output has dropped to 100 cubic meters; and the highest volume of water savings per day comes close to 100,000 cubic meters, according to Xinhua Net.

After Shanghai became one of the first batches of national water-saving cities, it launched a plan to be a comprehensive water-saving society, according to Zhang Jiayi, Director of the Shanghai Water Supplies Department. At present, Shanghai's water demand per 10,000 yuan output has dropped to 100 cubic meters; water consumption of industrial value added per 10,000 yuan has dropped to 154 cubic meters; and efficiency in re-using water among industries has risen to 81.5 percent.

According to reports, in the process of constructing a water-saving society in Shanghai, community volunteers inspect water-saving measures to ensure that landscape water and greenbelt water use as much reclaimed water and rain water as possible. In the construction process, we need to put efforts into network operation and manage meter-reading; improve the efficient use of water and reduce sewage discharge; and recycle industrial waste water and re-use water.

By People's Daily Online