Ningxia finds new approach on water conservation

The Ningxia Hui autonomous region introduced its approach on constructing a water-saving society and promoting the intensive and safe use of water resources at the press conference of the Water Resources Forum of the fifth China-Arab States Expo on August 12.

Wang Zhengliang, director of the water conservation and urban and rural water supply department of the Ningxia Water Conservancy, said Ningxia has issued a series of water-saving rules and regulations. It has revised water quotas for various industries and has introduced seven types of water-saving evaluation standards for different units, such as in irrigation districts, enterprises and schools.

It has also established a water-saving system with water resource demonstrations and water-saving evaluations, with planned water use and quota management, water price and water resource tax leverage adjustments as part of the main framework, covering intake, supply, use, and discharge.

Ningxia has vigorously promoted drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation with high-efficiency water-saving irrigation technology. As a result, the annual effective utilization coefficient of farmland irrigation water has increased by one percent to 0.55.

The province has actively promoted industrial water recycling technology, with the reuse rate of water in industrial enterprise above designated size reaching 96.2 percent.

In terms of regulations, various water consumption units need to reach a pertinent standard. 90 percent of enterprises above designated size in the key water-use industry have established themselves into water-saving enterprises. 90 percent of provincial-level agencies and authorities have established themselves into water-saving units.

For instance, the Ningdong Coal Chemical Industry Park has become China's first large-scale comprehensive industrial park to achieve a "near zero" discharge of wastewater.

Ningxia has incorporated the performance of water conservation into the efficacy goal management assessment of the autonomous region. The assessment results are linked to appraisal, performance rewards, and water resource tax revenue distribution, driving a step-by-step upgrade of water saving.

A water rights index control system for districts, cities, and counties has been established. A refined water resources management pattern has been initially formed, demonstrating Ningxia's approach to deepen the reform of water rights and in promoting the allocation of water resources to high-efficiency areas.

Ningxia will closely follow the national deployment on water conservation, adhere to the water-saving policy, strengthen the maximum rigid constraint of water resources, and strictly implement the guiding principles that regulate the relations between water and urban development.

Next, the autonomous region will comprehensively carry out in-depth water conservation and control actions, accelerate the improvement of water resource conservation and an intensive utilization system, and will effectively guarantee the water security for the autonomous region's high-quality development.