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5 Water Resources Allocation and Regulation
terms of timing of availability, location, water quality, water quantity, or reliability—
there is a need to provide a mechanism for sharing the available water among the
competing uses and users. As such, water resource allocation and regulation are
a process of changing the natural or status quo distribution of water resources to
balance economic and social requirements for water with other interests, including
those of the environment (Shen 2007).
China is, politically, a centralized country with five levels of administration—
including central, provincial, prefectural, county, and township governments—and
each level of these is answerable to the superior levels of government. China’s institutional structure for water resource management mirrors these arrangements, with
local water resources departments and bureaus answering to higher levels within
the water resources management hierarchy all the way up to the MWR. MWR has
overall responsibility for China’s water resource management policy as the WAD of
the State Council. Separate river basin management commissions exist for China’s
major river basins, which are responsible for management of water resources at the
major river basin level, as discussed in Chap. 4.
Under the 2002 Water Law, the RBO is responsible for sharing water between the
provinces in which the basin is located. Likewise, within provinces, the provincial
water resources department is responsible for preparing water resource allocation
plans to share water among different prefectures, and so on down the administrative
ladder (Article 45, 2016 Water Law).
The Water Law also establishes a water abstraction permit system to regulate the
abstraction of water by individuals or entities (Article 32, 1988 Water Law; Article
48, 2002 and 2016 Water Law). Further regulation of water use then occurs within
public water supply systems (e.g., irrigation districts) to manage the use of water by
individual users.
As such, water resources in China are allocated and regulated on three distinct
but connected levels (Shen 2009):
• river basin and regional water resource allocation and regulation, by which water
within river basins is allotted to administrative regions and sub-regions;
• allocation among water abstractors, which occurs through water abstraction
permits allocating a region’s share of the available water resources among different
abstractors (i.e., those who take water directly from watercourses or aquifers); and
• allocation of water to water users (such as those within urban water supply systems
or farmers within an irrigation district) where water is allocated among those
supplied from the public supply system.
5 Water Resources Allocation and Regulation
terms of timing of availability, location, water quality, water quantity, or reliability—
there is a need to provide a mechanism for sharing the available water among the
competing uses and users. As such, water resource allocation and regulation are
a process of changing the natural or status quo distribution of water resources to
balance economic and social requirements for water with other interests, including
those of the environment (Shen 2007).
China is, politically, a centralized country with five levels of administration—
including central, provincial, prefectural, county, and township governments—and
each level of these is answerable to the superior levels of government. China’s institutional structure for water resource management mirrors these arrangements, with
local water resources departments and bureaus answering to higher levels within
the water resources management hierarchy all the way up to the MWR. MWR has
overall responsibility for China’s water resource management policy as the WAD of
the State Council. Separate river basin management commissions exist for China’s
major river basins, which are responsible for management of water resources at the
major river basin level, as discussed in Chap. 4.
Under the 2002 Water Law, the RBO is responsible for sharing water between the
provinces in which the basin is located. Likewise, within provinces, the provincial
water resources department is responsible for preparing water resource allocation
plans to share water among different prefectures, and so on down the administrative
ladder (Article 45, 2016 Water Law).
The Water Law also establishes a water abstraction permit system to regulate the
abstraction of water by individuals or entities (Article 32, 1988 Water Law; Article
48, 2002 and 2016 Water Law). Further regulation of water use then occurs within
public water supply systems (e.g., irrigation districts) to manage the use of water by
individual users.
As such, water resources in China are allocated and regulated on three distinct
but connected levels (Shen 2009):
• river basin and regional water resource allocation and regulation, by which water
within river basins is allotted to administrative regions and sub-regions;
• allocation among water abstractors, which occurs through water abstraction
permits allocating a region’s share of the available water resources among different
abstractors (i.e., those who take water directly from watercourses or aquifers); and
• allocation of water to water users (such as those within urban water supply systems
or farmers within an irrigation district) where water is allocated among those
supplied from the public supply system.