Preface

The year 2014 was not only the first year of deepening the reform in an all-round way, but also a major milestone in the process of the water sector reform and development in China.

President Xi Jinping has explicitly remarked on the water-governing thinking in the new period, namely, "Chinese government has put forward the guiding principle of prioritizing water conservation, upholds the principle of balancing population growth, economic development, resources and the environment, adheres to the systematic philosophy that mountains, waters, forests and farmlands constitute one life community, and insists on the basic requirement of jointly promoting development of water sector by both governmental and market forces", which provided a scientific guidance and basis for the current work in the water sector. Premier Li Keqiang has made important arrangements and put forward an explicit demand for the rural drinking water safety, construction of key water projects, and water sector reform and innovation. The Central Economic Work Conference and the Central Rural Work Conference have emphasized the construction of water projects as an integral part of infrastructure construction, a crucial area of public financial investment, important contents of deepening the national reform in an all-round way, and a key support for advancing agricultural modernization.

Over the past year, the country's water sector has actively practiced the new water-governing thinking in an effort to usher in a new phase of water governance and development and promoted the new development of the water sector.

Steady progress has been made in the construction of projects for rural drinking water safety. The problem of the drinking water safety for a rural population of over 66 million has been solved. China has successfully dealt with flood, drought, and typhoon disasters, providing the security for the economic and social development as well as people's lives and property. The preparation and initiation of 172 key projects for water conservation and supply has been accelerated. The construction of 40 on-going projects including the improvement of 3 rivers (Heilongjiang River, Songhuajiang River and Nenjiang River) has been sped up. The construction of 17 projects, including the Datengxia Reservoir in the Xijiang River and the Chushandian Reservoir in the Huaihe River has been started. The construction of infrastructure for farmland irrigation and drainage has reached a new height. Regional large-scaled farmland with high efficiency water-saving irrigation is making steady progress. The area of farmland with high efficiency water-saving irrigation has expanded by more than 20 million mu (1.33 million hm2). New achievements have been made in water ecological progress and the most stringent water resources management system has been implemented in an all-round way. The program of promoting urban water ecological progress are being carried out actively in the 105 pilot cities. Water and soil erosion control projects were implemented in an area of 54,000km2. The installed capacity of small hydropower stations has been increased by over 2 million kW. A new breakthrough has been made in deepening the water sector reform in an all-round way. Law-based water governance and scientific water development have taken a new step forward.

The year 2015 marks the final year of implementing the 12th Five-Year Plan of the water sector. It is also a key year of laying down a foundation for the 13th Five-Year Plan. Water security has been recognized as an issue of strategic importance to building a moderately affluent society and realizing sustainable development of the Chinese nation. Since the goal is clear and the task is more arduous, we must work hard to make new achievements in the water development.

Finally, on behalf of the editorial board, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to those senior officials and distinguished experts for their concerns, guidance and support during the compilation and publication of China Water Development Report 2015. Meanwhile, I hope that readers of this report can offer invaluable comments and suggestions.

Li Guoying

Vice Minister of Water Resources, P.R. China