Ministry of Water Resources（MWR）

Ministry of Water Resources (MWR)

Address: No. 2 Ertiao, Baiguang Rd., Xuanwu district, Beijing 100761

Tel: (86-10) 6320-2114

Functions and responsibilities

The MWR is directly responsible to the State Council. It is responsible for:

Drafting policies, strategies, plans, regulations and laws related to water resources;
Overseeing drafting of national and regional long-term water supply and distribution plans; arbitrating regional and sector water disputes;
Planning urban water use and use of water resource funds;

Overseeing the water-extraction permit system and fee collections for water use;

Recommending price, taxation, credit and finance policies to regulate water resources;
Directing national hydrological work; ensuring the safety of reservoirs and dams;

Examining feasibility studies for major water construction projects;

Formulating standards and procedures for such projects;
Directing the management of water facilities, water surfaces and coastlines;

Directing the development of large rivers and lakes;
Directing rural electrification through hydropower;
Limiting sewage discharge into drinking-water resources;

Monitoring the quantity and quality of water resources and determining the pollution absorption capacities;
Organizing national and rural water and soil conservation work;
Running the State Anti-Flood and Anti-Drought Command Headquarters.
Minister: Wang Sucheng

Internal Setup

General Office; Planning Dept.; Policy and Law Dept.; Water Resources and Hydrological Dept. (National Water Conservation Office); Economic Regulation Dept.; Personnel and Labor Dept.; International Cooperation and Science, Technology and Education Dept.; Construction and Management Dept.; Water Conservancy Dept.; Rural Conservancy Dept.

Overview

The MWR grapples with China’s uneven spatial and temporal distribution of water resources and the world’s second-lowest per capita water supply. The severe water shortages in northern China and floods in southern China harm the environment, agricultural and industrial production.

The ministry targets inefficient agricultural and industrial water use caused by subsidized water prices and low wastewater discharge fees. But rural areas cannot afford higher water prices and the ministry can provide only guidelines for water-pricing policy.

The MWR strove to meet half the increased agricultural demand for water through new water supplies and half through conservation and enhanced efficiency. It secures loans to help farmers implement anti-evaporation measures, water-saving irrigation and dryland farming and switch to drought-resistant and water-efficient plant strains.

However, these measures are costly, and the MWR is battling bureaucratic intransigence, poor technology dissemination channels and entrenched local traditions. Overall, the MWR devotes fewer resources to improving irrigation than to managing urban water supplies.

For cities, the MWR is instituting a quota system to ration water according to production output value and is enabling the sale of water-use rights to balance supply and demand. Its conservation plan entails saving water, developing new resources, minimizing wastewater and improving water resource-management regulations.

The MWR advocated the world’s largest water-transfer project to bring water from the Yangtze River to the water-scarce north, maintaining that China has the economic and technological know-how to construct the three transfer routes. Others say it will cost too much, disrupt many lives, destroy the environment, transfer mostly wastewater, harm southern farmers, fail to solve the problem and be less effective than raising water prices.

The ministry worked to establish a national water-quality monitoring network to issue early warnings about serious pollution in major rivers and lakes. To tackle soil erosion, the ministry encourages re-vegetation and afforestation.

The MWR is looking to the Three Gorges Dam to control floods and facilitate the water transfer project. The ministry’s failure to prevent the 1998 floods and its misuse of funds intended for flood control led to the downfall of its former minister, Niu Maosheng.

The State Environmental Protection Administration regulates water pollution and the Ministry of Construction builds water-treatment facilities. Thus, no institution has sole responsibility for the water supply and management system, and the MWR has difficulty mediating between interest groups, coordinating water resource management and enforcing regulations.
UPDATED: May 23, 2001

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