Confronting the Water Crisis of Beijing Municipality in a Systems Perspective Focusing on Water Quantity and Quality Changes Jin Ma Master of Science Thesis Stockholm 2011 Jin Ma Confronting the Water Crisis of Beijing Municipality in a Systems Perspective Focusing on Water Quantity and Quality Changes Supervisor: Ronald Wennersten Examiner: Ronald Wennersten Master of Science Thesis STOCKHOLM 2011 PRESENTED AT INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TRITA-IM 2011:15 ISSN 1402-7615 Industrial Ecology, Royal Institute of Technology www.ima.kth.se SUMMARY In recent decades, water systems worldwide are under crisis due to excessive human interventions particularly in the arid and semi-arid regions. In many cities, the water quantity situation has become more and more serious, caused either by absolute water shortage or water pollution. Considering population growth and fast urbanization, ensuring adequate water supply with acceptable water quality is crucial to socio-economic development in the coming decades. In this context, one key point is to (re-)address various water problems in a more holistic way. This study explores the emerging water crisis events in Beijing Municipality so as to have a better understanding of water systems changes and to make more sustainable water-related decisions. The changes of water quantity and water quality in the region are analyzed in a systems perspective; and opportunities towards improved performance of Beijing‟s water systems are discussed. In order to aid in water systems analysis, a conceptual framework is developed, with a focus on identifying the most important interactions of the urban water sector. The results of the study show that the emerging water crisis events in the Beijing region are caused by a variety of inter-related factors, both external and internal. The external factor is mainly the decreasing upstream surface water inflow into the Guanting and Miyun reservoirs. The internal factors include precipitation variation, excessive water withdrawals, increasing water demands for different purposes and a large amount of pollutants discharged to the receiving water bodies. These factors together have caused tremendous water systems changes in Beijing Municipality from both the water quantity and water quality perspectives. In order to alleviate the serious water situation in Beijing Municipality, many further efforts are required in the dynamic socioeconomic and ecological context. Although tremendous work has been carried out by water-related institutions to prevent flood and ensure water supply, water resources development, planning and management must be addressed employing systems thinking and in a more holistic way. This is crucial for balancing the tradeoffs of water quantity and water quality in the Beijing region. Besides the experimental inter-basin water transfer activities, water demand management and pollution reduction and prevention should be the top priority on the agenda of the Beijing government in the long term. Moreover, only at a river basin level may various upstream-downstream conflicts be alleviated by wiser water allocation among administrative regions, as well as taking the ecological water demand into consideration. Finally, considering the current water situation and water management system, the following three aspects of improvement are emphasized in the present study, including a promoted water- centric value, institutional capacity building and employing economic principles for water resources management. Key words: Beijing, sustainability, systems thinking, urban water, water quality, water quantity i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis work is carried out at the Department of Industrial Ecology (DoIE), Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm. I really appreciate the experiences of studying in the international master program of „Sustainable Technology‟. I have benefited so much from various courses related to Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development. Absolutely many people have contributed either directly or indirectly to the thesis work. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Ronald Wennersten, professor at the DoIE, for his constructive guidance, encouragement and valuable comments on the thesis. Thanks too to Xingqiang Song, PhD student at the DoIE, for his assistance in data collection and helpful comments on the earlier drafts of the thesis. Further thanks to the teachers of all courses I took at KTH. Moreover, thanks to Karin Orve, the Education Administrator at the DoIE, and Monika Olsson, the Director of Studies at the DoIE, for their kindness and various help during my study period at KTH. I am also grateful to Ms. Yingfang He at the International Office of KTH for her help during my living in Stockholm, especially for her encourage when I still hesitated to apply for this master program a few years ago. In addition, I would like to thank all my Chinese friends for their help. Last but not least, I would like to add personal thanks to my family for years of support and understanding during the period of my study and living in Sweden. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................... ii ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ viii 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Water Stress in the Beijing Region .............................................................................................. 2 1.3 Aim and Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 5 2 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Systems Thinking .......................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 A Conceptual Framework for Urban Water Systems Analysis .............................................. 6 2.3 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................. 7 3 WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ...................................................................... 9 3.1 Sustainability and Water Resources ............................................................................................ 9 3.2 Integrated Water Resources Management ............................................................................... 11 3.4 Urban Water Management ......................................................................................................... 12 4 MATERIALS................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Beijing Municipality and its Water Systems ............................................................................. 16 4.2 Characteristics of Water Systems Development .................................................................... 18 4.3 The Social and Economic Context .......................................................................................... 20 5 RESULTS ........................................................................................................................ 23 5.1 Water Quantity Changes ............................................................................................................ 23 5.1.1 Precipitation variation .................................................................................................... 23 5.1.2 Surface water inflow (SWI) ........................................................................................... 24 5.1.3 Surface water outflow (SWO) ....................................................................................... 26 5.2 Water Uses and Regional Water Deficits ................................................................................. 29 5.2.1 Water supply and water uses ......................................................................................... 29 5.2.2 Water deficits and decreasing groundwater table ....................................................... 31 5.3 Water Quality Changes ............................................................................................................... 33 5.3.1 Point and non-point pollution ...................................................................................... 33 5.3.2 Surface water quality....................................................................................................... 37 5.3.3 Groundwater quality....................................................................................................... 39 6 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 41 6.1 Water Quantity