China s water management challenges and solutions

Yanan Jiang1,2,4,3,7, Faith Ka Shun Chan2,4,3,7,5, Joseph Holden2,4,3,7, Yaqian Zhao6, Dabo Guan3,7,8

1 College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, P.R. China
2 School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
3 Water@Leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
4 School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
5 The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 199 Taikang East Road, Ningbo, P.R. China
6 UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research, School of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, University College Dublin, Ireland
7 Water@Leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
8 School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Abstract


China has experienced enormously rapid development since the open door policy introduced in 1979. Population has increased by 30% to 1.3 billion, and the annual GDP growth rate was 9.8 % in the last few years. However, frequent water disasters in recent years have caused significant damages to China s regional growth and societies. There are huge contemporary challenges for Chinese water resource management. In this paper, we examine three major challenges for China s water resource management, which are water scarcity, water pollution and flood management. We discuss some of China s past management strategies and its future water management plans which come with major new investment. China will be further developed during this century and we provide some thoughts on water resource management that could be undertaken in China to increase resilience in face of a capricious future.

Keywords


China; climate extremes; flood risk; pollution; water resources management; water scarcity

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