Chapter 15 Chapter 14 Why Our Water Crisis Is So Bad

March 22, 2010 is the eighteenth "World Water Day". At this moment, the water crisis facing the southwestern provinces of China is particularly profound. Previously, in this region with the richest water resources in China, people had little idea of ​​the rainy season and dry season, but the severe drought that lasted more than 200 days and the data from the meteorological department showed that this African savannah-style rainy season and dry season are cruelly intertwined The scene of this may appear around us for a long time in the future. Behind the "thirst of the Southwest" is people's deep concern about the extreme shortage, uneven distribution and serious pollution of China's water resources.

World Bank officials predict that within the next five years, "water will function like oil around the world." And China has been listed as one of the 13 countries with the poorest per capita water resources in this water-scarce world. A lot of news recently has made us worried and entangled. In the first half of 2010, there was a severe drought in Yunnan and disputes over the Mekong River. In the second half of 2010, not only the extremely large flood peak passed through the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River several times, but also floods everywhere.It's all about water.For us people, water is an all-too-familiar resource, but this resource has become an unbearable burden for China today. How short is our water resource in China now?The per capita fresh water resources are only 1/4 of the world average level, ranking 110th in the world, which has not yet caught up with the ranking of the Chinese men's football team in the world.

Many media broke the news that the culprit of the severe drought in Yunnan that lasted more than 200 days was eucalyptus, saying that each eucalyptus was a small water pump.I don't think it's just a matter of eucalyptus.For example, in Yunnan, their forest coverage area has changed from more than 40% to more than 50%. They not only plant eucalyptus, but also pine trees, but what is the result?It's not the same, they are all water pumps.Therefore, it is unimaginable for them to expand the forest area by means of such a fast-growing forest, and the damage to water resources is unimaginable.

In addition, more than 400 of the more than 600 cities in our country are short of water, and more than 100 of them are seriously short of water.In fact, Beijing is already a city with severe water shortage. Its population has already exceeded 3 million to 4 million. What should we do?Our government implements the South-to-North Water Diversion, letting water chase people instead of people chasing water.The utilization efficiency of this kind of water is very low, and it also brings deprivation of interests among the provinces along the route. For example, many enterprises in Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei cannot start work. Why?Because you want to supply water to Beijing, you must ensure that the water quality is clean.The result of not being able to start work is that many famous and high-quality products, such as Xiaozhan rice, cannot be produced in these grain-producing areas that used to grow rice.That's all, Beijing even uses their water to open saunas and wash cars. What is this?This is serious injustice, and such a waste of resources is something we cannot tolerate.Beijing's per capita water resources are 1/13 of the global per capita water resources, and it is drier than Arab countries. Under such circumstances, the proportion of recycled water in Beijing is very low, and our waste is very abhorrent.Also, Shanxi itself is a place short of water, but during the Olympic Games, in order to squeeze out water to supply Beijing, it has no water for 3 days a week.So I think it's very uneconomical. You say that you have made Beijing so good and the land price so high, and then all the money is spent there, and all the people go there, and then let the water transfer to chase people, I think this approach is too unwise, and Beijing is not a special case.In the whole country, including in the Southwest, there is an imbalance between urban and rural areas. There is no problem with water use in cities, but there are no usable water sources in rural areas. What is fair about this?

In fact, what is the most critical issue behind this thirst for China?Not only the shortage of water resources, but also the pollution of water resources.If you think about it, you are already in shortage and you are polluting, so this problem is very serious.Now polluting enterprises have increasingly spread to the Midwest, and these places are precisely China's water sources.If these places are not environmentally friendly, our coastal areas will suffer.For example, the basins of our two rivers, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, both originate in Qinghai, so Qinghai must be environmentally friendly and must not be polluted, so they cannot engage in industry.However, the Qinghai local government should say, well, I can't engage in industry, I can't engage in land reclamation, so what should the common people do?If you want to develop industries in the east, you have to subsidize me, so that I can protect water resources and forest resources well.What will the eastern provinces say?They said that my money has been handed over to the state according to taxation, and it should be paid by the state, not us.At this time, this kind of dispute will be deadlocked, and everyone will start to argue, and there will be no results in the end, and it is this kind of fruitless result that is the most terrible, because in this kind of stalemate, the most serious people like Qinghai For the well-being of the local people, areas rich in resources may also start to build cement plants and chemical plants like our coastal areas, so what should we do?

In China, there is still a problem. This problem lies in the upstream provinces or the midstream provinces. Once you strengthen the environmental protection standards and impose strict restrictions on enterprises, the enterprises will leave, and the enterprises will switch to those with less stringent environmental protection standards. The provinces went.In fact, this is also a question about water governance. China's water governance is managed by each province, just like the United States at that time.In the United States, Carter once promulgated a "Clean Water Act."Before the "Clean Water Act", there were many interstate rivers in the United States. It was a game between states. Many states invoked their own laws. Because of different jurisdictions, there was a lot of quarrel at the time. Later, the United States adopted The best method is the so-called "centralized" water management, that is, the federal government will take over the water management power uniformly, and the problem will be solved.

In fact, in terms of the quantity of water pollution, the biggest problem is our production method. The biggest source of pollution is actually agriculture, not industry. This is what everyone needs to figure out, that is, we use a lot of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.If we don't use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, our fields basically don't produce much rice. When it comes to water pollution, many of our experts said that China's water pollution has clearly shown a trend of spreading from tributaries to main streams, from cities to rural areas, from surface to underground, and from land to sea.In other words, nationwide water pollution has become a bottleneck in China's economic and social development.If we don't control this water pollution, then this burden will fall on our children and grandchildren, and they will scold us at that time.

To control water pollution, the role of the government is very important.For example, what about traffic jams?widen the road.and then?Build a loop.Beijing is like this, the viaduct, the third ring, the fourth ring, the fifth ring, the sixth ring, the seventh ring, the eighth ring, the ninth ring... Tianjin has all come in.In fact, this is not a question of whether the roads are wide or not at all, but a question of whether the management method is correct and whether the urban planning is reasonable.The roads in Hong Kong are very narrow, but its traffic jams are not as serious as those in Beijing. Why?This is because Hong Kong's traffic management is relatively in place.So regarding the problem of water pollution today, looking around, we have too many problems.For example, our decrees are numerous, but basically they are difficult to implement.And what about businesses?You come and check, well, I have a sewage treatment tank.Has its pollution entered the discharge pool, and has it been treated as a source of pollution?We simply don't have a good standard.In fact, we lack a very strict supervision, and if we build it, it will be in vain. What will happen in the end?pollute the next generation.I don't deny that, in fact, the Chinese government has invested heavily in water control.A large number of sewage treatment plants have been built, and some sewage treatment plants were quickly acquired by foreign capital after they were completed.Then, we handed over the problem of water pollution treatment to foreign capital, and finally found that they made a lot of money, but our water pollution treatment did not improve.

I want to mention a new thought, and I suddenly thought of the Rhine.The Rhine River flows through many countries in Europe, which is the same as the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers on our side.In 1980, these European countries signed a convention on the Rhine River, which is how to discharge and what standards. They have about 64 parameters as discharge standards.But we have noticed that before this convention, its pollution has dropped significantly, and its cadmium content has dropped by 80 to 90 percent before the signing of the convention.This is very strange!In other words, the governance of the Rhine River is not simply a convention signed by so many countries to jointly prevent and control water pollution, but before this convention, there was a method that we did not know that had already reduced the cadmium content significantly. This phenomenon is interesting. Now, we should find out why the cadmium levels in the Rhine dropped dramatically before 1980.

Finally, our research results found a very interesting thing.For example, each of our three factories discharges sewage. At present, I deal with my sewage and you deal with your sewage. Each of our enterprises has to bear the cost.That is to say, the result of my treatment of sewage is that the production cost of my enterprise has risen sharply, so of course I can cheat as much as I can, that is for sure.In the end, I might as well discharge part of the sewage into the sewage treatment plant and the other part into the river. Anyway, I secretly dig a pipe underground, and you can't see it.At present, we let enterprises deal with the water pollution problem individually, so it must not be handled well. Why?It is because of the cost problem.

Before 1980, European countries dominated by Germany, before signing the treaty, they actually came up with a very creative new thinking.In the first step, the three of them jointly sent the sewage to a sewage treatment plant.51% of the equity of this sewage treatment plant is owned by the government, and the remaining 49% of the equity is divided by 3. The three of them share, that is, they also need to take shares and invest.What does that mean?That is, the three of them discharge sewage into it, and of course they have to pay for the sewage treatment.What about the common people?Sewage from eating, drinking, and scavenging is also discharged in, and ordinary people have to pay for it.In the end, you find that this has become a company, and all three of them have shares in this company.If it is said that the common people have a lot of sewage, or whoever discharges a lot of sewage, although they have to pay a little fee, it is finally discovered that the sewage treatment plant may still make money.After making money, they are shareholders, and they can share 49% of the profits.Therefore, for the three of them, this is not a simple cost concept, but they also have to deal with so much sewage today. In the past, they invested 100 yuan in cost, so today they still invest 100 yuan, but 100 yuan It is handed over to the sewage treatment plant controlled by them. Yuzi’s sewage treatment plant also helps other people treat sewage, so maybe they earn 70 yuan for them, and their cost is 30 yuan.It is through this method that they concentrate on sewage treatment and then jointly hold shares. As a result of the joint shareholding, the cost is converted into profit.In this way, enterprises will pay attention to it. Your enterprise discharges a lot, so you don’t need to build water pipes to discharge it into the river. You have to discharge it all to the sewage treatment plant, and you have to pay for it.Because it is beneficial to me for you to pay, so I will supervise you, don't mess around, I will sue you if you mess up.Don't mess around either, both of you have more emissions than me, so you have to pay.Therefore, the three of them can supervise each other, which saves the government's supervision time.You know, it is best for "bad guys" to supervise "bad guys".This is the first step in water pollution control and burial—joint stock.Before harsh punishments and laws, we must first self-discipline through interests, not necessarily moral self-discipline, interests themselves can be the most effective means of checks and balances.So this is a new way of thinking, and I would like to ask governments at all levels to think about it. But if it is done in Germany, it will be done more thoroughly.That is to say, after the three of us discharge the sewage to the centralized sewage treatment plant, it has 64 parameters for testing, including cadmium, arsenic and so on.And we suddenly discovered that it can develop a new industrial chain on every parameter.For example, how to deal with cadmium and how to deal with arsenic, each has its own industrial chain.The sewage treatment plant built by the three of us is not only a sewage treatment enterprise, but also can be promoted through each parameter to establish an industrial chain with 64 parameters, so that various enterprises emerge as the times require.Therefore, the establishment of this sewage treatment plant is actually a catalyst, which will drive the industrial chain of related enterprises. This is the second step.The third step is even more interesting, because the concept of dealing with pollution is the same, so this set of tools can also be used for waste treatment and other pollution treatment.That is to say, through this trilogy, the first step is to form a joint stock company; the second step is to establish an industrial chain for water pollution control; the third step is to transfer similar concepts to garbage and other pollution.In fact, this is the successful experience of Germany, which is the reason why Germany can become the largest exporter of environmental protection equipment industry.If we can change our thinking today and switch to this kind of circular industrial chain thinking, I believe it will be a way out for us to control water pollution. First of all, we have to re-examine our past economic development model. In order to develop the economy, many of our local governments simply ignore everything when attracting investment.What water pollution?It doesn't matter.What about water treatment?There is no need to deal with it, and it is discharged at will, which is why today's situation is caused.Now, we have to pay for the results of past economic development, and 2010 is the time to start paying for it.How to buy this order?Many local governments may have lost their way.I think we can start talking about that.In fact, I found that our current thinking about water pollution control is basically wrong.Some local governments even went to some countries with backward water treatment technology, such as Australia, isn't that ridiculous?It’s okay if you inspect its kangaroos, but if you inspect its water management, isn’t that nonsense?Let me give you an example. Many Chinese delegations visited a 20th-century sewage treatment plant in Melbourne, Australia.This sewage treatment plant Fu is a very outdated production capacity. It was remodeled several times 30 years ago for local primary and middle school students to visit.And when the Chinese delegation went there, 20 delegations were sent from one city, and they all inspected the same sewage treatment plant.When they arrived at the exhibition room, many Chinese delegations left messages and inscriptions saying, ah, this is the most advanced sewage treatment technology in the world, and we have seen it for a long time!This is known locally as a "good story".These people spent the money of our common people and lost the face of our Chinese people.And our sewage treatment in China is in charge of this kind of person, how can it be managed well?We have even the most basic concepts wrong, and we don't know how to manage water at all.And, you know what?Individuals such as sightseeing groups and study groups, who invited them to visit?It was the foreign businessmen who provided these water treatment equipment abroad who invited them to go.The purpose is obvious, and I don't need to say it, everyone knows it too. Also, not long ago I saw an interview with Liu Guangzhao, an expert in water treatment. Liu Guangzhao is a well-known water treatment expert in the world.When he was interviewed, he also outlined a current industrial chain for water control in China.He said that one of the characteristics of China is that pollution control projects are put first, and these projects play a role as a money-making tool in this industrial chain.First of all, it is a project of hundreds of millions of yuan. These sewage treatment companies can get several million in design fees first, so how do they deal with these several million?Do they use it for design?Why bother?Just steal a backward technology from abroad, decades or even half a century behind, just like those in Australia, and call it the "most advanced" technology, which will save millions of patents fee?You must know that these sewage treatment plants are very powerful. They can bring in relevant supporting enterprises, sell all the backlog of equipment and backward technology through these projects, and finally the government will pay for it.These projects are built during this process. Now we call them "dirty projects."Then package it and let foreign capital acquire it.The key is that foreign capital is also willing to buy it. The drunkard's intention is not to drink, and they will not consider whether your sewage treatment plant can purify water.They just packaged it as a financial concept, and then its stock quickly rolled up because it felt that sewage treatment was profitable.And what about after the foreign businessmen deal with it?In fact, domestic experts also know about this problem, but they don't expose it, and they don't act like a child in "The Emperor's New Clothes".why?Because he said that the introduction of this technology can be regarded as an academic achievement of his own, and this project can be used as a step forward.Therefore, in an interview, Liu Guangzhao finally said with emotion: "It is not important to control water in China, it is important to control people first." Through these two examples, we can see that when we put forward a good economic development concept of water pollution treatment, and this concept is still very feasible, but once the above situation is encountered, the choice of interests is likely to be different. You've taken another step, and you're not on the right track.Therefore, our water pollution control really needs to "treat people first". With regard to the issue of water control and circular economy, we have a good model and a good plan, but we also need a superb execution.In fact, our government has a great feature, that is, its administrative power is particularly strong.If the current government's ability can be used in the circular economy of water pollution treatment, it is possible to surpass Germany.But the problem is that we are now the only one management company, and this is the only one in this city. The water price in a city like Beijing is already very high, it has already reached 5 yuan, and it may be 8 yuan or 10 yuan in the future. If the sewage treatment fee is included, you cannot inquire about the sewage treatment fee.Why on earth is it so high?Because it has no competition.Therefore, we still need a good competition mechanism, but this competition mechanism should not be marketization for the sake of marketization.Instead, three of us will build one water pollution treatment plant, and the other four will build another, so there will be competition between us.Establishing a standardized market means that we need to establish a good system to regulate this market behavior. This is what we want, not a simple marketization.So I think we should start from this Rhine model and do deeper thinking, especially the government and water control units should think more and learn more! The melting of polar glaciers is a clear reflection of climate warming.According to a report released in 2004, the polar climate will rise twice as fast as other regions in the coming decades.Since 1978, the area of ​​the Earth's ocean ice has been shrinking at a rate of 8% per decade.Some people also believe that it is not ruled out that the polar ice cap may disappear completely in the second half of the 21st century.Warmer climates in the Arctic and other glacial regions (especially Greenland) will have very serious consequences, such as significant changes in biological species, rising water levels and large changes in the climate of the Atlantic region.The desalination of seawater in the North Atlantic due to melting glaciers will slow down the exchange of cold and warm currents and reduce the impact of the Gulf Stream.According to recent studies, the impact of the Gulf Stream has decreased by 30 percent since the mid-20th century.The Panel on Climate Change predicts that the exchange rate of warm and cold currents in the Atlantic Ocean will weaken by about 25% by 2100.Of course, the possible consequences of this phenomenon have yet to be studied, but a change in the influence of the Gulf Stream could cool the climate in the United States and Western Europe.When and how likely those outcomes will occur is unknown. Between 2007 and 2025, the rate of sea level rise will be contained.Since the 1990s, global sea level has risen at a rate of 0.3mm per year, mainly caused by ocean heat absorption (the ocean absorbs 80% of heat and affects areas below 3000 meters) and glacier melting.At the same time, rising water levels could also lead to salinization of coastal areas and aquifers, which would seriously affect agricultural yields in large numbers of densely populated areas, especially in delta regions such as the Nile and Niger deltas. Freshwater consumption in developing countries is set to skyrocket due to rapid population and agricultural growth.More than one billion people around the world currently lack access to adequate drinking water, and soil depletion, pollution and desertification will further reduce available resources.The scarcity of freshwater resources is even more pronounced in arid and semi-arid regions, where around 90% of available resources will be used for agriculture by 2030.According to the forecast of the United Nations, "more than 2.8 billion people will live in countries or regions with poor water resources by 2025", and water resources will be reduced at an average rate of 1,700 cubic meters per person per year.In some densely populated countries in North Africa and the Middle East, water resources are not even half of the average.Of course, improved resource management models and allocation methods will help reduce waste, especially in developing countries. This article is excerpted from "What will happen to the world in 2025..." by [French] Nicole Gnesotto and [Italian] Giovanni Grevi