Water is of vital importance to human societies and the environment, for it concerns all the necessities of both rural and urban life. China is now moving towards modernization. The country’s development has always been closely related to water. Despite the great achievements China has made in the water sector, unfavorable water conditions and uneven water distribution has hindered China’s economic development and placed much pressure upon water resources.
Richard Barber Reidinger, a candidate for the Friendship Award this year and an American expert on irrigation and drainage who introduced the concept of Self-financed Irrigation and Drainage District (SIDD) and Water User Association (WUA) into China, accepted an interview with People’s Daily Online. He shared his unique view on the situation of water resources in China over the past decades.
Water User Association accelerates the reform of water engineering
While serving as a project manager of water resources on the Yangtze River in Hubei and Hunan provinces from 1992 to 1998; Reidinger introduced the concept of SIDD and encouraged local farmers to establish a Water User Association (WUA), a managing group of farmers working together to maintain an irrigation and drainage system that ensures water distribution and increases farm yields. There was a lot of conflict around water among the farmers, and a lot of poor people. “The weakest people could not get water,” Reidinger added.
When working on the Yangtze Basin project and after much preparation work, Reidinger found that local farmers had already formed a so-called “Water User Group, an undeveloped form of a WUA.
The leaders of the water user group were appointed by the local water bureau. Therefore, this water user group had some weaknesses; but their performance was better than baseline as farmers were working together, instead of taking their water or fighting for their water.
Reidinger noted that water meant almost everything in rural areas. “If you are a farmer, and you have water, your family will be okay, have enough to eat, and be able to send your kids to school; if you don’t have water, you are poor. There is no other way around it.”
However, even in areas that are not so dry, irrigation is absolutely critical to the farmers’ income. If there is a drought, irrigation protects them. In southern China, for example, in Hunan and Hubei provinces, it is very common to have three to four weeks of drought. If you depend on rain, your crop will be damaged. If you have irrigation, it will not be a big problem. Therefore, irrigation for many of these farmers is the difference between being poor and having enough for a normal life.
“After we did a lot of research, we found a benefit in farmers’ participation, which is what the water user group was doing. We are trying to make it permanent. If it becomes permanent, it will become farmers’ own affair, not the government’s. If they elect their own leaders, it will become a farmers organization. So, that is the key, that was what we did.”
Despite achievement, the situation of water resources in China is still critical.
In China, especially in drier areas such as the Hexi Corridor in Gansu province, the water situation is very grave. It is similar on the northern Chinese Plain; although it is not the desert. The per capita availability of water is only about one-third of China’s average, and China’s average is at the bottom 25 percent in the world.
What is more serious is the shortage of water combined with the issue of water pollution. The scarcity requires management and investment to increase the productivity of water. The government, in this circumstance must take the initiative in several areas – in the management of water resources in particular – to make the most of that minimal amount of water. There is essentially no new water in northern China. The current supply is allocated. Economic growth depends on more efficient water use.
Thanks to the changes occurring in China, irrigation has become more important. The demand for water has increased, but the supply stays the same. This means the urgency for efficient water use is much higher; efficiency must increase.
The key issue of water resources in China is management. There is need for new investment in hardware, but the key issue at present is the software: training, management, and the operating system. For example, the traditional system in China for calculating the water fee is by mu (15mu=1 hectare). If one farmer puts on water for five hundred cubic meters, and the other for two hundred cubic meters, they both pay the same. There is no incentive to economize water use. If charged by the cubic meter, the farmer will use exactly what he needs. Therefore, one of the key changes is to begin charging for water use by the cubic meter rather than by the mu.
My initial goal is to help
Reidinger said his initial goal was to help. He wanted to see farmers in China have a better life and able to manage the water because it is the key to their income. That is what the WUA is all about.
When asked about what his final target is, he jokingly said: “Many people who know me, they know I just say ‘more water user associations.’ But the real target is water resources management.”
Global warming requires immediate attention
According to Reidinger, global warming is very closely connected with water resources management. One of the effects of global warming is likely be a temperature increase, which means more water will be required for growing crops. This is a big, fast-approaching issue. Now, he is working on a project to upgrade one of the World Bank’s loan projects to introduce climate change adaptation into agricultural projects. It is the first of this kind in the world. China is establishing a new way of dealing with this project.
By People's Daily Online
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