Protection of Water Resources to Go High-techComputer-based information systems are to help tackle the worsening water shortages which are threatening the country."Only with such systems can China satisfy its sustainable development of national economy and sustainable use of water resources," Wang Shucheng, minister of water resources, told a national conference in Nanjing yesterday. Wang called for a technological revolution to meet the demand of massive water conservancy projects in the coming years. Water projects are a significant aspect of national infrastructure. They supply water for irrigation, industries and drinking and control floods and droughts. Wang promised China will use its water resources in a sustainable way to maintain a balanced economy and healthy water supply. Worsening water pollution and frequent floods and droughts must also be resolved. One of the most important tasks in ensuring a clean water supply is to modernize protection efforts through science and technology with top priority on optimizing water resources, Wang said. In the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), water authorities are to strengthen scientific and technological renovations in the administration of water resources, particularly the sustainable use of resources during development of the western regions. To mitigate damages caused by floods of major rivers, construction of high-tech chain of command systems would be continued to monitor, regulate and control floods in the five-year period, Wang said. While popularizing water-efficient irrigation methods like spring and drip irrigations, such technologies would be combined with the government's restructuring of the agricultural sector to gain better grain yields at less cost. Monitoring systems are also to be set up along major rivers and lakes to monitor water quality with counter-measures worked out to analyze causes of water pollution. Wang said he hopes further research would be done to solve key technological issues and related economic and environmental problems for the ambitious project proposed to divert water from the Yangtze River in the south into the drought-stricken North China. The minister said China can adopt modernized ways of science and technology, like a computer-based information network, to set up monitoring and management systems. (www.chinadaily.com.cn) |
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