China to step up groundwater conservation

BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- China will step up its protection of groundwater in line with a regulation that will soon be implemented, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Monday.

Effective from Dec. 1, the groundwater management regulation will address issues including the overexploitation and pollution of groundwater with institutional measures, Vice Minister of Water Resources Wei Shanzhong said at a press conference.

Groundwater has important ecological functions and is a strategic water resource reserve. By 2020, the country had 855.35 billion cubic meters of groundwater at the national level.

The country has been tackling issues such as the overexploitation of groundwater in recent years. The exploitation of groundwater in China reached 89.2 billion cubic meters in 2020, down from a peak of 113.4 billion cubic meters in 2012.

The regulation will build on these efforts to further protect groundwater with measures such as the delineation of key areas for groundwater pollution control, Wei said.

The ministry will improve relevant mechanisms, enhance supervision and reinforce law enforcement to protect groundwater, he said.