Project to tackle water shortage, pollution By Ma Lie (China Daily) Updated: 2006-02-21 06:05
XI'AN: Qinghai plans to provide cleaner water for more than 1.7 million
farmers and herdsman who suffer with poor supplies over the coming years,
according to local official sources.
Xing Lianwen, an official with the water resources bureau in the inland
province in Northwest China, said that 1 million farmers and herdsmen who are
suffering from water shortages or polluted drinking supplies will see
improvements by the end of 2010.
"The remaining 730,000 people will be provided with adequate clean water
during the period of 2011-20," the official told China Daily.
Starting from this year, Qinghai will focus its effort on water resources'
development, and will further speed up construction of a number of medium and
large-sized water storage and supply projects which will provide enough clean
water for people, the official said.
Qinghai, the source of China's largest rivers the Yangtze River and the
Yellow River, and also the source of Lancang River has total water resources of
more than 62.9 billion cubic metres, among the richest water resources of
provinces in China, according to Ma Shenglu, a water resources expert in Xining,
capital of Qinghai province.
However, because of a backward economy and poor geographical conditions, 44.5
per cent of the total number of local farmers and herdsmen 1.73 million people
had either not enough water to drink or could only access polluted supplies last
year, said the expert.
According to an investigation made by the local water resources authority in
2005, about 455,000 people drank water polluted with fluorine, arsenic and large
amounts of pathogenic bacteria, and some 1.28 million people suffered from water
shortages in the province's pastoral areas.
"The dirty and polluted water harmed our health, and illnesses made us
poorer," said Zeji Gesang, a local Tibetan in Banma County.
Over the past several years, the province has been trying the tackle the
problems.
From 2000-2004, the provincial government invested 550 million yuan (US$68
million) for the construction of 604 water supply projects for people and
livestock in its rural and pastoral regions, Xing said.
"Those projects provided better water supplies to more than 1.35 million
farmers and herdsmen in the province, and greatly improved local agricultural
production and animal husbandry. The survival rate of baby livestock has risen
to 80 per cent at present, from 20 per cent five years ago, in the pastoral
areas which used to suffer from water shortages," the official said.
Zhong Gengquan, a herdsman living in Hualong, one of the poverty-stricken
counties in the province, enjoyed a better water supply in early 2005 and his
family enjoyed a good income thanks to an agricultural production growth because
of proper irrigation.
"The better water supply did not only give us better water to drink, but also
helped the vegetables in my greenhouse, which helped me to earn 8,000 yuan
(US$1,000) last year for my family," Zhong said.
(China Daily 02/21/2006 page3)
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