2.2 China
1 | Country Information

Table 2.2.2 Overview of China's seven major rivers

Table 2.2.1 Basic indicators

Length(km)

Annual Flow
(100 million m 3)

1,782,725

6,300

9,857

Land Area (km2)

9.6 million (approx.) (2018)

Yangtze River

Total Population

1.4 billion (2019)

Yellow River

752,773

5,464

592

Songhua River

561,222

2,308

818

Liao River

221,097

1,390

137

Pearl River

442,527

2,214

3,381

Hai River

265,551

1,090

163

Huai River

268,957

1,000

595

14,723 billion (2020)*

GDP (current USD)
GDP per capita (current USD)

10,484 (2020)*

Average Precipitation (mm/year)

651.3 (2019)**

Total Renewable Water Resources (km3)

2,904.1 (2019)**

Total Annual Freshwater Withdrawals(billion m3)

602.12 (2019)

Annual Freshwater
Withdrawals
by Sector

Agriculture

61.16% (2019)**

Industry

20.22% (2019)**

Municipal(including domestic)

14.48% (2019)**(Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China 2020,*IMF 2020, **MWR 2019)

2 | State of Water Resources
China’s total freshwater resources are the fourth largest
in the world. However, due to its large population, water
resources per capita are only about 2,300 m3, which isonly a quarter of the global average (Chinese HydraulicEngineering Society 2016). Moreover, water resources
are unevenly distributed – rich in the southern areas andpoor in the northern areas. In 2019, precipitation across
China tended to be low in the northwest and high in thesoutheast (MWR 2019).
There are 45,203 rivers in China, with a total lengthof 1.51 million km (MWR 2011a). Of these, the Yangtze
River, Yellow River, Pearl River, Songhua River, Huai River,Hai River, and Liao River constitute the seven major river
basins. There are also numerous lakes, over 2,800 ofwhich are 1 km2 or larger, covering a total area of about
78,000 km2. The five largest freshwater lakes are BoyangLake, Dongting Lake, Taihu Lake, Hongze Lake, and Chao
Lake, all located around the middle and lower reaches of
the Yangtze River.
Most of China's water resources are surface water,
with groundwater resources amounting to 819.15 billion
m3 in 2019. Looking at the breakdown of water use bysource, 80% of the total water use was surface water andabout 20% was groundwater, but groundwater use washigher in some regions. In the Yellow River basin, many
cities experienced problems such as land subsidence due
to over-pumping of groundwater.

40

Drainage Area
(km 2)(Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China 2020)

3 | State of Ambient Water Quality
According to the 2020 Ecological and Environmental
Status Bulletin of China's Ministry of Ecology andEnvironment (MEE), surface water pollution across
China has reduced. Assessments were conducted forsurface water quality, which is classified according to fivecategories of water resources (Grade I to Grade V) basedon the environmental standards for surface water (seeTable 2.2.3). Figure 2.2.1 shows surface water quality
in 2020, broken down by percentage. Seawater andTable 2.2.3 Classification of water quality standards forsurface water
Grade

Description

I

Mainly for headstreams and national nature preserves

II

Mainly for drinking water resources in first-class protectedareas, protected areas for precious fish, and spawningareas for fish and shrimp

III

Mainly for drinking water resources in second-classprotected areas, protected areas for fish, and swimming
areas

IV

Mainly for industrial water resources and recreational use
with no human contact with water

V

Mainly for agricultural water resources and water areas
required for landscapes(Source: MEE 2002)

2.4%

0.6%

7.3%
Grade I

13.6%

29.2%

Grade I I
47.0%

Grade III
Grade IV
Grade V
Inferior to Grade V

Figure 2.2.1 Surface water quality, by percentage(Source: MEE 2020)

Chapter 2: Country Profiles of Water Environmental Management in WEPA Countries

Table 2.2.4 Classification of seawater quality standards
III

Suitable for marine cultivation, bathing, marine sports orrecreation activities involving direct human contact withmarine water, and for sources of industrial use of water
related to human consumption

III

Suitable for water resources for general industrial use

IV

Suitable only for harbors and ocean development activities(Source: MEE 1997)

Table 2.2.5 Classification of groundwater quality standards
Description

I

Reflects the low content of chemical components ofgroundwater, applicable to various purposes

II

Reflects the relatively low content of chemical componentsof groundwater, applicable to various purposes

III

Reflects the medium content of chemical components ofgroundwater. Based on GB5749-2006, primarily applicable
to concentrative drinking water sources and industrial andagricultural use waterIV

Reflects the relatively high content of chemical componentsof groundwater. Based on industrial and agricultural use
water requirements and benchmark value of humanhealth, primarily applicable to agricultural water andpartial industrial use water. After being properly processed,
applicable as drinking water

V

Reflects the high content of chemical components ofgroundwater. Not applicable as drinking water. Selection ofsuch category of water depends on other purposes

Republic of Korea

Grade

Japan

Description
Suitable for marine fishing, marine nature preserves andprotected areas for rare or endangered marine organisms

Indonesia

Grade

China

According to the national monitoring results, the overallwater quality of 10 major water systems (Yangtze River,
Yellow River, Pearl River, Songhua River, Huai River, Hai
River, Liao River, rivers flowing through Zhejiang andFujian provinces, rivers in the northwest, and rivers inthe southwest) was between Grade I to Grade III for
87.4%, and inferior to Grade V for 0.2% (MEE 2020),
which represents a broad-based improvement compared
to 2013 (see Table 2.2.6). Figure 2.2.2 shows the water
quality in 2020 for 10 major water systems. Rivers
in northwest China, Zhejiang and Fujian region andsouthwest China and river basins of the Yangtze River andPearl River were of excellent quality. The water quality of
Yellow River, Songhua River, Huai River was fairly good,and Liao River and Hai River were slightly polluted.

Cambodia

3.1 Rivers

groundwater were also assessed based on surface water
categories according to their respective water quality
standards (see Table 2.2.4 and Table 2.2.5).

Table 2.2.6 Water quality of 10 major water systems in
China (2013, 2020)
Grade I–III

Grade IV–V

Inferior to Grade V

2013

71.7%

19.3%

9.0%

2020

87.4%

12.3%

0.2%

Lao PDR

Year(Source: MEE 2020)

Malaysia
Myanmar(Source: Standardization Administration, 2017)

Inferior to Grade V

Grade IV–V

Nepal

Grade I – III
100%

Philippines

80%
60%

Sri Lanka

40%
20%

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Figure 2.2.2 State of water quality of 10 major water systems in China

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Viet Nam

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Thailand0%(Source: MEE 2020)41

3.2 Lakes and Reservoirs
In 2020, 76.8% of the 112 major lakes and reservoirs
across the country met the criteria for environmental
standards of Grade I-III and 5.4% of Inferior to Grade
V. The main indicators used to signify the existence ofpollution were total phosphorus, COD (chemical oxygen
demand), and Permanganate index. Of the 110 lakes andreservoirs where nutrients were monitored, 9.1% were
under oligotrophic status, 61.8% were under mesotrophic
status, 23.6% were under slight eutrophication, 4.5%
were under intermediate eutrophication, and 0.9% were
under severe eutrophication (MEE 2020).

3.3 Nearshore sea areas* 1
The water quality of coastal waters has steadily improved.
According to the 2020 monitoring results, 77.4% of areas
were classified as Grade I or II (National Seawater Quality
Standards), an improvement of 0.8 percentage points
compared to the previous year. Moreover, 9.4% of thewater bodies were below Grade IV, representing a drop
(improvement) of 2.3 percentage points comparedto the previous year. Major pollutants were inorganic
nitrogen and active phosphate (MEE 2020).

3.4 Groundwater
According to the results of the 2020 groundwater quality
monitoring, of the 10,171 monitoring sites, 13.6% wereclassified as of Grades I–III, 68.8% as Grade IV, and 17.6%
as Grade V. Among the 10242 shallow groundwater
monitoring sites, 22.7% were classified as Grades
I-III, 33.7% as Grade IV, and 43.6% as Grade V. Major
indicators exceeding the standard were manganese,water hardness, and total dissolved solids.

4 | State of Wastewater Treatment
Since 2011, the Chinese Government started monitoring
COD and ammonia nitrogen from agricultural plantations,fisheries, and livestock farms. Total COD discharge
in 2018 was 5,842,000 tons, and of this amount, 81.6
% resulted from household discharge. Furthermore,
90.5% of the ammoniacal nitrogen discharge resultsfrom household discharge (China Statistical Yearbook on
Environment 2019*2). In 2019, there were 2,471 urban
domestic wastewater treatment facilities nationwide,with a capacity of 178.63 million m3/day in 2019, and thevolume of annual urban domestic treated wastewater
was 52,585 million m3, with a treatment rate of 96.81%.

5 | Frameworks for Water
Environmental Management
5.1 Legislation
The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China
stipulates that the protection and improvement of theecological and living environment and the preventionof pollution are responsibilities of the state. The
Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republicof China stipulates that “the State shall strengthen
the protection of air, water and soil, and establish
and improve corresponding investigation, monitoring,appraisal and restoration systems.” The Environmental
Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China wasrevised in 2014 and went into effect on 1 January
2015. With regard to the prevention of water pollution
in surface water and groundwater, the Law on Water
Pollution Control sets surface water environmental
standards, groundwater environmental standards,
and water pollutant discharge standards. The Water
Pollution Control Law was also amended in 2017. As forseawater, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on
the Protection of the Marine Environment was enacted
in 1982, which established water quality standards forseawater; this law was amended in 2017. In addition to
the above laws, the Environmental Protection Tax Law
was enacted in 2018, and regulations and administrative
orders/regulations related to water pollution prevention
also exist, such as the collection of an environmental
protection tax from companies that directly discharge
pollutants, based on discharge amount. Provinces andcities have also set their own environmental standards.

5.2 Institutional arrangements
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) wasestablished in 2018 by the 13th National People’s
Congress, subsequent to formation of the Ministryof Environmental Protection (MEP), by upgrading theState Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) in2008 and amalgamating with sections responsible forenvironmental protection in the National Development
and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Land andResources, Ministry of Agriculture, State Oceanic
Administration, and others.
MEE is responsible for establishing and improving
the fundamental system in China with respect to theecological environment. Its roles include forming
collaborations with other governmental departments to*1 Nearshore waters: refers to the sea area stipulated in the National Marine Functional Zoning (2011-2020).
*2 NBS and MEE. China Statistical Yearbook on environment 2019. https://navi.cnki.net/KNavi/YearbookDetail?pcode=CYFD&pykm=YHJSD&bh=

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Chapter 2: Country Profiles of Water Environmental Management in WEPA Countries

Water Quality Monitoring

Nepal
Philippines
Sri Lanka
ThailandThe effluent quality of municipal wastewater treatment
plants is regulated by the Discharge Standard of

The Five-Year Plan for China's National Economic andSocial Development is China's basic policy document,
and also sets targets for achieving water environment
management. The National Five-Year Plan on Water
Pollution Control in Major River Basins has also
been formulated as an important water environment
management policy document.
In April 2015, China's State Council released theWater Pollution Prevention Action Plan (Water Ten
Articles) and has made efforts to resolve certain issues.
The Water Ten Articles call for: (1) overall control ofpollutant discharge; (2) promotion of transformation andupdating of economic structure; (3) a focus on water
resources saving and conservation; (4) strengthening of
scientific and technological support; (5) giving full play tothe function of market mechanisms; (6) tightening of

Myanmar

5.4 Effluent standards

5.5 Measure Policies on
Water Environmental Management

Malaysia

In 2020, there were 1,937 surface water sections (sites)
under the national monitoring program, including
1,614 water sections in seven major river basins of
the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Pearl River, Songhua
River, Huaihe River, Haihe River and Liaohe River aswell as rivers in Zhejiang and Fujian, and rivers innorthwestern and southwestern parts of China. In
addition, water quality monitoring was carried out in
112 major lakes (reservoirs), at 10,171 groundwater
quality monitoring points of natural resources authority(7,923, 910, and 1,338 groundwater monitoring points
in plain basins, karst mountainous areas, and bedrockin hilly mountainous areas respectively), and at 10,242
groundwater quality monitoring points of water
resources authority (mainly shallow groundwater)(MEE 2020)*3. Analytical methods for water quality aredescribed in the respective water quality standards; i.e.,
Surface Water Environmental Standards (GB3838-2002),
Groundwater Quality Standards (GB/T14848-2017), andSeawater Quality Standards (GB3097-1997).

Lao PDRThe 2017 amendments to the Water Pollution Control
Law have strengthened the penalties for violations. In
response to a violation, the government's environmental
protection section issues an order to the violatingcompany to correct the situation, as well as restricts orsuspends production operations, and imposes a fine of
not less than 100,000 yuan and not more than 1 million
yuan, in cases of (1) discharging pollutants withoutobtaining a pollutant discharge permit in accordancewith the law; (2) exceeding discharge standards or total
volume control indicators; (3) falsifying wastewater
quality data; and (4) discharging pollutants without
properly operating sewage treatment facilities (Lin 2020).

Republic of Korea

The surface water environmental quality standards set
five categories for 24 basic parameters. Groundwater
quality standards set standards for 39 parameters, andthe seawater quality standards set standards for 35
parameters. Separate water quality standards exist for
fisheries and irrigation.

Japan

Measures against non-complianceIndonesia

5.3 Ambient Water Quality Standards

China

Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (GB18918-2002), which sets effluent standards for 19 basic
parameters and 43 optional parameters for municipal
wastewater treatment plants nationwide. Certain regions
have independently introduced their own effluent
standards at the local level. Discharge concentration
limits of industrial wastewater pollutants are stipulatedby the discharge standards of water pollutants ofcorresponding industries, such as steel, meat processing,
etc. If there is no industrial discharge standard forany given industry, the limits shall be implemented inaccordance with the Integrated Wastewater DischargeStandard (GB 8978-1996). At present, there are 65
national water pollutant discharge standards in China.

Cambodia

initiate the formulation and implementation of national
ecological and environmental policies and plans as wellas to draft laws and regulations, and to formulate
departmental rules; forming collaborations with othergovernmental departments to compile and supervise theimplementation of ecological and environmental plans
and water functional zoning plans for key regions, river
basins, sea areas, and drinking water source areas; andto organize the formulation of ecological environmental
standards and formulate ecological environmental
benchmarks and technical specifications (MEE 2021a).
Provinces and municipalities also play an importantrole in pollution control through establishing local laws
and standards.

Viet Nam*3 http://www.mee.gov.cn/hjzl/sthjzk/zghjzkgb/202105/P020210526572756184785.pdf

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environmental law enforcement and supervision; (7)effective strengthening of water environmental
management; (8) providing a full guarantee of water
ecological environment safety; (9) defining and fulfilling
the responsibilities of each party; and (10) strengtheningof public participation and social supervision (MEE 2015).
The articles also set numerical targets such as limiting
the national water consumption to 670 billion m3 or lessby 2020, increasing the percentage of water quality ofGrade III or higher in seven river basins including theYangtze and Yellow Rivers to 70%, and increasing theurban sewage treatment rate to 95% (MEE 2015).

6 | Recent Developments inWater Environmental Management
During the 13th Five-Year Plan period adopted by
the National People’s Congress in March 2016, China
formulated the Ecological Environmental Protection Plan
to further improve the quality of the environment andenhance governance capacity. The government set a
goal to improve the quality of the environment by 2020,
to mitigate vulnerabilities in the ecological environment.
The water quality target set in the 13th Five-Year
Plan for 2016–2020 was to increase areas of Grade III by
4% and reduce areas of Grade V and below by at least
4.7%. By the end of FY2019, the percentage of water
bodies designated as Grade III and above had increased
from 67.9% in 2017 to 74.9%, and the percentage ofwater bodies inferior to Grade V had decreased from
8.3% in 2017 to 3.4% (Chinese Academy of Environmental
Planning, 2020). Moreover, COD and ammonia nitrogen
had been reduced respectively by 13.8% and 15.0% by
the end of 2020 (Chinawater net 2021).

The 13th Five-Year Plan ended at the end of 2020,
and the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National
Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range
Objectives Through the Year 2035 was approved by the
National People’s Congress in March 2021.
In the 14th Five-Year Plan, the following strategies toimprove the water environment have been formulated(Xinhua News Agency, 2021).

• Improving the level of rural infrastructure and public

services- Improve rural infrastructure, including water,electricity, roads, and gas (24-2)*4- Promote the treatment of domestic wastewater inrural areas (24-3)• Improving the quality and stability of ecosystems- Strengthen ecological protection and managementof major rivers, lakes and wetlands (37-1)- Improve policies on land and sea use for ecologicalprotection and restoration (37-2)- Promote the establishment of basin-wide ecologicalcompensation measures for major river basins(37-3)• Environmental improvement

7 | Challenges and Future Plans
Although the overall quality of China's water
environment has been improving, there is still morework to be done. Some localities still have a relatively
extensive development mode, and their environmental
infrastructure needs to be improved; the country’s
overall water ecological condition still lags behinddeveloped regions in the world; the water environment
risks in some localities demand attention, including risksof environmental emergencies and sediment pollution(MEE 2021).

*4 The number in the prentices indicates the section in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

44- Improve water pollution prevention measures,watershed management and coordination (38-1)- Strengthen comprehensive management for majorriver basins, lakes, urban and coastal waters (38-1)- Reduce COD and total ammonia nitrogen emissions
by 8% each (38-1)- Eliminate inferior to Grade V water bodies inprincipal (38-1)- Promote the relocation and renovation of industries
with heavy pollution in major river basins (38-1)- Implement comprehensive prevention andmanagement plans for water and soil environmental
risks (38-1)- Strengthen the prevention and control of plastic
pollution (38-1)- Promote full coverage of urban sewage pipe
networks (38-2)- Upgrade sewage treatment (38-2)- Promote centralized sludge incineration anddetoxification treatment (38-2)- Achieve 90% detoxification treatment rate for urban
sludge (38-2)

Chapter 2: Country Profiles of Water Environmental Management in WEPA Countries

Cambodia
China
Indonesia
Japan
Republic of Korea
Lao PDR- Achieve 25% or more of recycled water use in cities
at and above the prefectural level with water
shortages (38-2)- Establish an ecological environment management
system that integrates above and below ground as
well as land and sea (38-5)- Realize the issuance of pollution discharge permits
for point source polluters (38-5)- Improve management and protection systems forrivers and lakes, and strengthen the system of river
chiefs and lake chiefs (38-5)- Improve the vertical management system ofmonitoring, supervision and law enforcement of
ecological and environmental institutions underprovinces (38-5)- Promote comprehensive law enforcement reform
for ecological environment protection (38-5)- Increase the disclosure of environmental protection
information and strengthen the establishment of acorporate environmental governance system (38-5)- Improve public supervision, and reporting andfeedback mechanisms (38-5)- Promote the participation of social organizations
and the general public in environmental governance(38-5)

Malaysia
Myanmar
Nepal
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Viet Nam

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