Although these three stories are all approximately two years old, and therefore clearly do not necessarily reflect current events or conditions, they do provide valuable and hard to obtain information that helps provide a clearer picture of the situation regarding water and water use in southern China and the country as a whole.
(Again, why China Water? Because when the world's fastest growing economy is constrained by water, and has stretched those resources to the limit, it's something to watch carefully.)
Peter Huston
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http://www.newsgd.com/news/Guangdong1/200606280063.htm
Thirsty city turns to sea to meet rising water demand
Latest Updated by 2006-06-28 15:33:31
Water authorities are planning to use seawater to meet rising demand.
According to a draft plan, Shenzhen city will launch a number of seawater desalination projects in power plants and tourism resorts along the east coast during the next five years.
"The power plants usually have stable and relatively cheap gas and electricity supplies, and can give out huge amount of heat energy, which are all suitable for distilling water," Wang Li, a senior engineer with the Shenzhen Water Bureau, told China Daily yesterday.
According to the plan, the country's first seawater desalination plant will be built inside Fuhuade Power Plant, which is located in Kuichong, eastern Shenzhen.
The plant is expected to produce 28,000 tons of fresh water a day.
"The fresh water produced by its own desalination system could at least satisfy the daily needs of the power plant," Wang said.
The local government also plans to build another two desalination plants, with daily capabilities of producing 10,000 tons of fresh water each.
According to the plan, they will be built in two tourism resorts, where demand for fresh water is growing.
However, it is still too early to commercialize these projects because of their high costs, Wang said.
"It will cost 5 to 6 yuan (about 70 US cents) to desalinate 1 ton of seawater, but currently the price for 1 ton of fresh water is little more than 2 yuan (25 US cents)," she said.
Although the desalination techniques have been improved and the costs are also expected to come down in the future, she believed seawater desalination could only serve as a supplement to the normal urban freshwater supply and, more importantly, to help cope with any emergency need for water.
"Since more than 80 per cent of the city's water supply is from the Dongjiang River (a major branch of the Pearl River), we have to be well-prepared for any emergency," Wang said.
She said sometimes seawater could be a good substitute for fresh water, for example when cooling down equipment in power plants and flushing toilets.
Last year, 7.3 billion tons of seawater was used to cool down equipment in power plants.
Peng Dongsheng, an expert with the Shenzhen Water Resources Planning & Design Institute, agreed that it was a good idea to use seawater to flush toilets but said the local government would have to make a major investment to build a separate water supply infrastructure.
According to the local government's draft plan, Yantian District in eastern Shenzhen may be the first to use seawater to flush toilets.
Editor: Yan
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http://www.newsgd.com/news/Guangdong1/200607140048.htm
Online water rate inquiry service starts next month
Latest Updated by 2006-07-14 16:47:28
It is learned from Guangzhou Water Supply Co. that citizens can inquire about their water rate through an online service starting from August. The service will first open to those users that have authorized banks for debit payment and gradually expand to all registered users of the company.
It is very easy to handle the "Online Water Rate Inquiry System". Users first log onto www.gzwatersupply.com and enter the ten numbers of the user code on the invoice and 6 password numbers (The last six numbers of the users' debit account are automatically assigned as the service password, which can be changed once users log in). If your identity is confirmed, you can inquire into your own real-time record of the last six months, including water rate, payment details and so on.
Editor: Yan
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http://www.newsgd.com/news/Guangdong1/200607190087.htm
101 parameters adopted to ensure the quality of drinking water
Latest Updated by 2006-07-19 16:34:10
Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Water Resources and the State Environmental Protection Administration of China have inspected the water supply system in Guangzhou. The Guangzhou Water Supply Company is the first water company in China that has the ability to analyze all 101 water quality parameters stipulated by the Ministry of Construction, which provides the technical guarantee for the quality of drinking water.
In June 2005, the Ministry of Construction issued the new Urban Water Quality Standard, in which parameters for the measurement of water quality were increased from 35 to 101, with more provisions concerning disinfection byproducts and examinations for pathogens being added.
At the Guangzhou Water Supply Company, the quality of water is monitored during the production process, as well as by laboratory analysis and the national urban water supply monitoring net. Real-time monitors are installed throughout the production system, from water source to finished product.
Editor: Yan
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