446
19 Review and Outlook
Following that was the national application of the river/lake chief system in 2016,
as discussed in Chap. 11, and natural resources asset management, as discussed in
Chap. 13, to develop ownership rights, water resources fee-to-tax reform, and then
the most important one is the restructure of the MWR in 2018.
According to the general arrangement of resources tax and fee reform, the water
resources fee-to-tax reform was piloted in Hebei Province and extended to the other
nine provinces in 2017. In 2020, the MWR requested that non-piloted provinces
prepare their applications.
The 2018 governmental restructure will have a long-term impact on water
resources management in China. As discussed in Chap. 3, the 2018 institutional
design is primarily just an interim arrangement. The final copy will depend on
the reform. But the first step has broken the long-term traditional recognition and
arrangement of the water sector, at both administrative and river basin levels.
In 2019, with the setting up of a new water organization after revisiting the 2014
water strategy, the MWR realized that the new strategy focuses on the transition from
changing and conquering nature to regulating human behavior and correcting human
mistakes. In terms of water resources management, the strategy states that water
saving is the premise of water resources development, use, protection, allocation,
and regulation. It also specifies three types of relationships shall be well-handled:
the relationships between water resources and socio-economic development to implement demand decided by resources, between water resources and other elements in
the ecosystem, and between the government and the market (E 2019).
Therefore, the key tasks of the water sector will be filled the weak point for infrastructure and strengthened sectoral management. The reasons are that the key water
problems have been changed from quantity at a lower level to quality at a higher
level, both in water and its sectoral services. The public has higher demands for
water quality, a healthy water ecosystem, and an amenable environment. At present,
there are critical imbalances and inadequacies in the water sector, such as imbalances between socio-economic development and water supply capacity, between
water demand and water resources holding capacity, and between water resource
development and protection of other ecological elements, as well as infrastructure development between rural and urban areas and among regions in the country.
The inadequacies exist in water resource saving, allocation, and regulation and in
water market applications. Investigating the causes of these problems reveals that,
in addition to non-human factors, misunderstanding and misbehavior are the keys,
resulting in overly loose supervision and management. This conclusion is the same
as that reached in 2009 when the strictest water resources management strategy was
developed (E 2019).
Thus, the fields to strengthen sectoral management are developed. These fields
include river and lake management, water resources management, water infrastructure management, water and soil conservation management, water resources
capital management, and water administrative sectoral management. River and lake
management is dependent on the river and lake chief system to supervise both river
courses and water bodies. Water resources management focuses on the strictest water
resources management strategy but with an emphasis on water saving (E 2019).
19 Review and Outlook
Following that was the national application of the river/lake chief system in 2016,
as discussed in Chap. 11, and natural resources asset management, as discussed in
Chap. 13, to develop ownership rights, water resources fee-to-tax reform, and then
the most important one is the restructure of the MWR in 2018.
According to the general arrangement of resources tax and fee reform, the water
resources fee-to-tax reform was piloted in Hebei Province and extended to the other
nine provinces in 2017. In 2020, the MWR requested that non-piloted provinces
prepare their applications.
The 2018 governmental restructure will have a long-term impact on water
resources management in China. As discussed in Chap. 3, the 2018 institutional
design is primarily just an interim arrangement. The final copy will depend on
the reform. But the first step has broken the long-term traditional recognition and
arrangement of the water sector, at both administrative and river basin levels.
In 2019, with the setting up of a new water organization after revisiting the 2014
water strategy, the MWR realized that the new strategy focuses on the transition from
changing and conquering nature to regulating human behavior and correcting human
mistakes. In terms of water resources management, the strategy states that water
saving is the premise of water resources development, use, protection, allocation,
and regulation. It also specifies three types of relationships shall be well-handled:
the relationships between water resources and socio-economic development to implement demand decided by resources, between water resources and other elements in
the ecosystem, and between the government and the market (E 2019).
Therefore, the key tasks of the water sector will be filled the weak point for infrastructure and strengthened sectoral management. The reasons are that the key water
problems have been changed from quantity at a lower level to quality at a higher
level, both in water and its sectoral services. The public has higher demands for
water quality, a healthy water ecosystem, and an amenable environment. At present,
there are critical imbalances and inadequacies in the water sector, such as imbalances between socio-economic development and water supply capacity, between
water demand and water resources holding capacity, and between water resource
development and protection of other ecological elements, as well as infrastructure development between rural and urban areas and among regions in the country.
The inadequacies exist in water resource saving, allocation, and regulation and in
water market applications. Investigating the causes of these problems reveals that,
in addition to non-human factors, misunderstanding and misbehavior are the keys,
resulting in overly loose supervision and management. This conclusion is the same
as that reached in 2009 when the strictest water resources management strategy was
developed (E 2019).
Thus, the fields to strengthen sectoral management are developed. These fields
include river and lake management, water resources management, water infrastructure management, water and soil conservation management, water resources
capital management, and water administrative sectoral management. River and lake
management is dependent on the river and lake chief system to supervise both river
courses and water bodies. Water resources management focuses on the strictest water
resources management strategy but with an emphasis on water saving (E 2019).