Is water ecosystem safe? The numbers tell you

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Overall overview: The water quality compliance rate for key water sources is 98.8%, with overall safety of drinking water sources ensured； The total water consumption is 609.5 billion cubic meters; strict control over this amount and a focus on water conservation will ensure that future water needs can be met ； The treatment rate of urban sewage has reached 90.2%, with the compliance rate for discharge continuing to improve; the era of high-concentration sewage is gradually coming to an end. 1. 98.8%: Is the drinking water safe? The water quality of 98.8% of the key water sources meets or exceeds Class III standards, ensuring overall safety of drinking water sources. 　　Water is the source of life. With economic and social development, the frequent occurrence of water pollution has drawn attention; can we be confident about the water we drink? 　“It can be said that our drinking water sources are generally safe. ”Chen Mingzhong, director of the Water Resources Department of the Ministry of Water Resources, said that water resources in China are managed in a categorized and hierarchical manner. Important rivers and lakes are divided into 4,493 functional zones, among which the protection and management of drinking water sources are subject to the strictest regulations. 　　According to the results of the first water resources survey conducted in 2010, among the 11,600 centralized water supply sources across the country, 89% met the quality standards. Results from water quality monitoring over three consecutive years show that among the 175 major drinking water sources across the country, over 95% had water quality at or above Class III, with this figure reaching 98.8% in 2014. 　　Chen Mingzhong said that through years of effort, the water quality in certain areas of major rivers and lakes has improved. Monitoring shows that in 2014, the compliance rate of the key control indicators for major national water function areas was 67.9%, an increase of 6.7 percentage points compared to 2010. However, the situation of water pollution remains severe, with pollution problems being particularly acute in some tributaries with high pollution loads, urban river sections, and pollution control areas. 　　In response to these situations, several measures will be taken in the next step: strengthening the \"three red lines\" for water resource management, adhering to the principle of determining urban development, population size, and production levels based on water availability, tightening control over water use at its source, and improving the early-warning system for water resource carrying capacity. 　　Clarify the management authorities for hierarchical water function zoning, improve the hierarchical and categorized management system, and strengthen the supervision and management of sewage outfalls into rivers. 　　Adopt a strict assessment system, with water quality targets for water function zones serving as hard constraints. In accordance with the pollution acceptance capacity of water function zones, scientific guidelines for restricting the total amount of pollutants discharged should be formulated to work together with environmental protection authorities in strictly controlling the total amount of pollutants released into rivers. 　　Chen Mingzhong said that the goal is to achieve an 80% compliance rate for water quality in the water function zones of major rivers and lakes across the country by 2020, with water quality meeting the standards basically by 2030. 2. 700 billion: Is there enough water? By 2030, the total water consumption is to be kept at 700 billion cubic meters; strict controls will be imposed, with water conservation given priority, to ensure that future water needs can be met. With urbanization and industrialization accelerating, the contradiction between water supply and demand is becoming increasingly prominent. Will there be enough water resources in the future? 　　Chen Mingzhong said that in terms of the overall volume, the national water consumption in 2014 was 609.5 billion cubic meters, which was within the annual target range ； It is predicted that by the time the national water demand reaches its peak in 2030, the total water consumption can be kept below 700 billion cubic meters. It is necessary to adhere to the principle of \"giving priority to water conservation,\" fully implement the strictest water resources management system, strictly control the total amount of water used, and strengthen measures for water conservation and protection in order to meet the water needs for sustainable economic and social development. 　　Focus on open-source configuration on one hand. Currently, there are over 93,000 reservoirs across the country that are primarily used for water supply and irrigation, with a total water supply capacity of more than 700 billion cubic meters; this capacity is sufficient to ensure a stable water supply for both urban and rural areas in years with moderate drought. With the accelerated construction of 172 major water conservation and supply infrastructure projects, the capacity for optimal allocation of water resources will be further enhanced. Through measures such as water allocation and improved unified management of water resources, the reliability of water supply will be improved. 　　Focus on throttling protection on one hand. By developing water-saving irrigation methods, the total amount of water used for agricultural irrigation in our country has seen slight increases for several years in a row ； Promoting water conservation in industry: the water consumption per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value was 59.5 cubic meters in 2014, a 32% decrease compared to 2010 ； 100 **-level water-saving pilot projects will be completed, resulting in annual water savings of around 30 billion cubic meters. The next step will be to fully implement the principle of \"giving priority to water conservation,\" to advance the development of comprehensive demonstration areas for water-saving societies, and to fully carry out action plans for water pollution control. Through comprehensive measures for conserving and protecting water resources, sustainable utilization of these resources will be achieved. 　　However, in some areas, groundwater over-extraction is severe, affecting water ecological security. The area of groundwater overexploitation across the country is nearly 300,000 square kilometers, with the amount of groundwater extracted in excess of its sustainable level reaching nearly 17 billion cubic meters; most of this overexploitation occurs in the northern regions. 　　It is reported that efforts to address overexploited areas will be intensified in the future. At present, the State Council has approved the Overall Plan for Reducing Groundwater Extraction in the Receiving Areas of the First Phase of the East and Central Routes of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and pilot projects for comprehensive management of areas with excessive groundwater extraction in Hebei have been launched, with the goal of achieving a balance between groundwater extraction and replenishment in these pilot areas by 2030 ； At the same time, the ecologically necessary water for rivers and lakes that has been misused, as well as the groundwater that has been over-extracted, is being gradually restored in the pilot areas. The National Plan for the Development, Utilization, and Protection of Groundwater has been finalized, establishing strategies and measures for the future development, utilization, and protection of groundwater resources, while also specifying the targets for reducing groundwater extraction in various provinces and regions. 3. 90.2%: Is wastewater treatment keeping up? The treatment rate of urban sewage has reached 90.2%, with the proportion of wastewater discharged in compliance with standards continuing to increase, and those standards themselves are also getting higher. As the economy and society develop rapidly, there is a corresponding surge in sewage generation. Can our current wastewater treatment capacity keep up? 　　According to statistics, by the end of 2010, China’s capacity for treating municipal wastewater was 125 million cubic meters per day, with a wastewater treatment rate of 77.5% in cities that had the status of municipalities. By the end of 2014, there were 1,797 municipal sewage treatment plants across the country. These plants processed a total of 38.27 billion cubic meters of sewage, representing a 5.9% increase compared to the previous year; the rate of sewage treatment in cities reached 90.2%. According to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, in the first half of this year, the total daily sewage treatment capacity in urban areas across the country (including established towns and industrial parks) reached 175 million tons. 　　Wu Shunze, deputy director of the Environmental Planning Institute under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that on the one hand, the construction of sewage treatment plants is accelerating; on the other hand, in recent years, there has been pressure on various regions to improve their pipeline networks, which has led to an increasing rate of sewage collection. As a result, the volume of wastewater entering sewage treatment plants is rising, and the situation where these plants had insufficient wastewater to process is changing. Wu Shunze believes that the scale of sewage treatment in China is now roughly on par with that in the United States. In the future, the focus will be on ensuring system compatibility, making up for any deficiencies, and raising the standards in sewage treatment plant construction, with an emphasis on addressing sewage treatment issues at the district, county, and even township levels. 　　At the same time, in recent years, the emission standards for industries with high emissions such as oil refining, steel manufacturing, textiles, printing and dyeing, and papermaking have been increasingly tightened. The discharge standards for wastewater treatment plants are also being revised, and the era of high-concentration wastewater is gradually coming to an end. 4. Faced with the most complex and severe challenges in water environment management, can our investment in technology keep up? 　　As the largest investment-funded water pollution control technology project since the founding of New China, one of the **major science and technology initiatives implemented in 2009, namely the Water Initiative, had a total investment of 35.65 billion yuan, aimed at addressing precisely these issues. Today, the first phase of research under the Water Project has yielded fruitful results—the \"Compilation of Advanced Technologies for Water Pollution Control\" includes 283 advanced technologies in 7 areas such as water pollution control in heavily polluted industries, as well as water body treatment and restoration; 1,172 patents have been granted. 　　More importantly, these research achievements are beginning to play an important role in water pollution control across various regions. Academician Meng Wei, president of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, said that the Water-related Projects focus on integrating with major pollution control projects and plans. The research activities and demonstration sites are centered around the \"three rivers, three lakes, one river, and one reservoir.\" Progress and breakthroughs have been achieved in areas such as the control of lake eutrophication and water quality improvement, river management and water quality enhancement, as well as the protection of drinking water sources, their purification, and safe distribution technologies.