China Urban Water Blueprint
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CHINA URBAN WATER BLUEPRINT Exploring innovative conservation solutions to China's water challenges ©e Nature Conservancy (Patrick McCathy) 2 China urban water blueprint Nature-based solutions to China water challenge ©The Nature Conservancy ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Lead authors: Daniel Shemie, Kari Vigerstol, Mu Quan, Nathan Karres and Wang Longzhu Contributing authors: Bai Xiaorui, Giulio Boccaletti, Robert McDonald, Feng Mingmin,Scott Moore, Shan Liang, Emily Simmons, Meghan Snow, Qian Yu, Zhang Haijiang, Zhao Peng, Zheng Xinying, Zhu Le and Cory Zyla Editor: John Wark Designers: Paul Gormont, Apertures Incorporated ; Wang Bing, Zhou Mo and ADB Graphics Design Studio A special thanks to our reasearch partners, Internation Union for Conservation of Nature, Beijing Normal University and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, in this report's development. This report would not have been possible without the generous contributions from Ecolab through its Foundation. Please cite this document: The Nature Conservancy, China's Urban Water Blueprint. 2016, Beijing, China: The Nature Conservancy. Available from nature.org/waterblueprint. © 2016 The Nature Conservancy 4 China urban water blueprint table OF COntentS FOrewOrd.........................................................................................................6 exeCutive Summary........................................................................................8 intrOduCtiOn..................................................................................................10 Chapter 1:where China's water Comes From...................................12 China's largest and fastest growing cities..................................................................................12 Urban water sources.............................................................................................................12 Urban water catchments.......................................................................................................13 Water catchment significance................................................................................................14 Significance of catchment size...............................................................................................16 Chapter 2:the degradation of urban water resources.....................18 Water availability.................................................................................................................18 Water pollution: point vs. non-point........................................................................................18 Catchment degradation........................................................................................................20 Non-point pollution in catchments..........................................................................................21 Pollution and land development impacts on people and nature.....................................................22 Economic drivers of catchment degradation..............................................................................24 China urban water blueprint 5 ©The Nature Conservancy(Brian Richter) Chapter 3:the untapped value of Catchment Conservation....................26 What's on the conservation menu..........................................................................................26 The scale of conservation needed to impact water pollution.........................................................27 What conservation at scale costs.............................................................................................28 Preventing pollution reduces treatment costs............................................................................29 Prioritizing conservation for water security also benefits nature.....................................................30 Governance structures that influence urban water sources..........................................................31 Chapter 4:putting market-based mechanisms to work for urban water Security..................................................................33 Collective action water funds...............................................................................................................33 Local government and industry...............................................................................................35 Investing in China's future.....................................................................................................35 CaSe StudieS...................................................................................................36 methOdOlOGy.................................................................................................50 reFerenCeS.....................................................................................................62 6 China urban water blueprint FOREWORD Everyone in the world needs and uses water every day. We fill our pots with it for cooking. We use it for bathing. We use it to make new products and create energy. Most importantly, we drink it. But around the world, clean water is becoming harder to find. In fact, half of the world's population is impacted by water shortages. Meanwhile, water demands from cities, agriculture, businesses and people are growing. City and business leaders, farmers and conservationists are competing for limited resources. We must find ways to balance the water needs of people and nature. China is experiencing the full force of these water security challenges. At least one-third of China's lakes and rivers are too polluted for human use, and 73 percent of the watersheds that supply water to fast-growing cities face medium to high pollution levels. Given the rise of cities and the scale of the water quality challenge, we must work together to build a sustainable water future for China. For the past several years, The Nature Conservancy has been studying the state of water around the world. This year, we decided to dive deeper into China given the country's challenges and importance to the global economy, environment and human development. In our latest report, the China Urban Water Blueprint, we analyzed the state of the 135 surface water sources tapped by China's 30 largest and fastest growing cities, and we found opportunity. Roughly half of China's water pollution comes from land use and degradation, especially fertilizers, pesticides, and livestock waste carried into lakes, rivers, wetlands, aquifers and coastal waters. By restoring forests, improving agricultural practices and implementing other conservation solutions alongside traditional water infrastructure, China can improve water quality for more than 150 million people and reduce pollution that impacts nature. Additionally, savings in water treatment could offset a significant portion of the catchment conservation costs. Water funds provide one way for China to implement these types of nature-based solutions at scale. This governance and financial tool is being used around the world, from Ecuador to Kenya. When designed properly, water funds can improve water quality as well as provide a range of co-benefits to people and nature including improved agricultural outputs, more reliable energy generation by hydropower facilities, and carbon sequestration. Water funds create a win- win situation for all involved by supporting continued economic growth and safeguarding natural resources. China is already putting wheels in motion to address its current water challenges. Let's be sure that nature is part of the equation used to solve the problem. Dr.Giulio Boccaletti Global Managing Director, Water The Nature Conservancy China urban water blueprint 7 Urban water sources are a fundamental component for meeting the needs of an urban population and are intimately tied to people's quality of life and economic production. In China, water catchments that supply urban areas are suffering from high pollution levels, with a portion of lakes and rivers too polluted for human use. Non-point pollution is increasingly contributing the majority of urban water pollution, particularly through land use change and intensive agricultural production. Curbing non-point pollution is quite challenging, as its extensive spatial nature makes it more difficult to control, especially by using engineered solutions. The management of non-point pollution and conservation of urban water supply catchments to ensure urban water security have become the essential requirements for the rapid sustainable development of urban China. The Nature Conservancy is focused on addressing the challenges of China's urban water catchments, including management of non-point pollution through nature-based solutions. The Nature Conservancy takes a scientific approach to conservation and has achieved measurable gains by applying this approach worldwide. The China Urban Water Blueprint provides a scientific understanding of the current status of urban water sources and the potential for nature-based conservation in China. This report surveyed the source water catchments of the 30 fastest growing, large cities in China and compared and analyzed the effectiveness and economic valuation of nature-based conservation as compared to engineered solutions. Notably, the China Urban Water Blueprint emphasizes the importance of employing market-based mechanisms, such as water funds, to provide the financial and governance mechanisms needed to implement conservation in urban water catchments at the scale necessary for water security. As urbanization progresses