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More
than 400 of China's 672 cities are short of water and 160
cities are forced to impose water restrictions. The water
shortages cost US $24.2 billion in industrial output a year.
Fresh water scarcity aside, water utilization remains frustrating,
which is as low as 40% in farm irrigation and 55% in industry
at average.
Meanwhile,
water leakage in urban supplying channels is shocking, exceeding
15%. About 21.5% of urban supply networks leak water, wasting
10 billion cubic meters a year.
Monitoring
water quality at 741 checkpoints on China's top 7 rivers
showed that less than 30% reached level 3, or the medium
level in the nation's 5-grade index for water quality monitoring,
while 41% were below the worst level of 5.
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According
to China's Tenth Five-Year (2001-2005) Plan, the annual
output of the water-supply industry will soar from the current
US $7.2 billion to US $24 billion by 2005. Research shows
that China's water business will maintain an annual 15%
growth for a considerably long period. By 2005 China will
increase its water supply capacity by 40 million cubic meters
a day and need up to US $120 billion of investment, but
the governments can allocate only US $24-36 billion. The
remaining money must be raised from foreign investment,
bank loans and other places such as the capital market.
Every
year, 20 billion square meters of living quarters are completed
in China, bringing exciting business to water supply and
wastewater treatment investors.
China's
sewage water treatment industry has also entered a new stage
of fast expansion. Statistics indicates that 3.7 billion
tons of sewage is discharged daily in China. By 2005, about
45% of China's urban wastewater should be treated, up from
the current 29%. By 2010, some 10,000 sewage treatment plants
will have been completed to increase the treatment ratio
to the required 50%.
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