WATER POLITICS

It’s two years into China’s 14FYP. What has that meant for water? Are things better or worse? Find out in our review

The 2022 State of Ecology and Environmental (SOEE) Report is the second SOEE report published by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) since China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (14FYP). It reported that China’s “national surface water quality continues to improve” and “groundwater quality remained stable”. Although the national surface water has been improving for seven consecutive years since the 13FYP, much effort is still needed to improve the groundwater quality.

Key highlights of the 2022 SOEE Report…

• Groundwater overall “remained stable” but slightly worsened: Grade I-III category worsened from 79.4% in 2021 to 77.6% in 2022 and Grade V category worsened from 20.6% to 22.4%. That said it still meets the 14FYP target of Grade V category less than 25% by 2025.
• National surface water quality continues to improve: Grade I-III category improved from 84.9% in 2021 to 87.9% in 2022, exceeding the 14FYP target of more than 85% by 2025; Grade V+ category improved from 1.2% to 0.7%.
• All seven major river basins have met both Water Ten targets of Grade I-III >70% & Grade V+ <5%: Yangtze further met its own higher target by reaching all Grade I-III category by 2025; while the Yellow exceeded its own higher target of Grade I-III >81.9% by 2025.
  • Yangtze River actions: In 2022, MEE and 16 other departments released an “In-depth Action Plan for the Protection and Restoration of the Yangtze River”. By 2025, it aims to maintain the Yangtze water quality in Grade I-III category and eliminate all black and odorous water bodies from built-up areas of county-level cities. Last year, China promoted construction of 1,549 centralised sewage treatment facilities in 1,174 industrial parks along the Yangtze, solving more than 400 violation cases related to illegal pollutants discharge.
  • Yellow River actions: In 2022, China released the “Yellow River War-Action-Plan for Ecological and Management” to conserve the Yellow River. By 2025, it aims to achieve >81.9% Grade I-III surface water bodies and eliminate all Grade V surface water bodies; it also aims to eliminate >90% of black and odorous water bodies in the built-up areas of county-level cities. Last year, China promoted the construction of 976 centralised sewage treatment facilities in 756 industrial parks in provinces along the Yellow River.
• Four major river basins have eliminated Grade V+ category: they are the Yangtze, Huai, Hai & Liao.

We deep dive into the performance of various water bodies in 2022 below…

To better understand the terminology of water quality used by the report, please refer to the following list:Grade I: suitable for source water and national natural reserve Grade II: suitable for domestic use (first rate), rare aquatic lives (and some other uses) Grade III: suitable for domestic use (second rate) (and some other uses) Grade IV: suitable for industrial use and entertainment use (without contact with human) Grade V: suitable for agricultural use Grade V+: not suitable for any use

National surface water quality continues to improve

China’s national surface water quality continues to improve steadily. In 2022, its share of Grade I-III category improved from 84.9% in 2021 to 87.9% while Grade V+ improved from 1.2% to 0.7%. It’s Grade I-III category has exceeded the 14FYP target of more than 85% by 2025.

The improvement of overall national surface water is most likely due to the improvement of China’s Main River Basins and Key Lakes & Reservoirs, rather than groundwater.

China’s Main River Basins shows great improvement – all seven major river basins meet both Water Ten Targets

The overall surface water quality of China’s Main River Basins has improved. The share of Grade I-III category improved from 87.1% to 90.2% in 2022 while Grade V+ improved from 0.9% to 0.4%.

In 2022, all seven major river basins have achieved both the Grade I-III >70% and Grade V+ <5% Water Ten targets, as shown in the right chart.

Apart from Water Ten targets, the Yangtze and Yellow have also set their own higher targets. The best performer, Yangtze, not only met Water Ten targets, but also achieved the higher target of reaching all Grade I-III water by 2025.

Similarly, the Yellow has also achieved the higher target of more than 81.9% of Grade I-III category by 2025. We hope that next year the Yellow can also achieve another higher target by eliminating all its Grade V+ water, as it has merely 0.03% of Grade V+ water this year.

All 7 rivers met both Water Ten targets…

…4/7 rivers have eliminated all their Grade V+ water

As shown in the table below, all rivers have improved their Grade I-III category in 2022 except for the Pearl which has worsened by 4.9%; that said, it still meets the Water Ten targets of both Grade I-III >70% and Grade V+ <5%.

The Yellow and Songhua recorded the greatest improvement with more than +9% compared to 2021. This year, the Songhua and Hai have finally joined the other five major rivers to meet both Water Ten targets. Notably four rivers – the Yangtze, Huai, Hai, and Liao, have eliminated all their Grade V+ waters in 2022.

Key Lakes & Reservoirs – overall quality slightly improved

The overall water quality of China’s Key Lakes & Reservoirs has also slightly improved compared to 2021. In 2022, the share of Grade I-III category improved from 72.9% in 2021 to 73.8% in 2022 while Grade V+ improved from 5.2% to 4.8%.

Groundwater quality slightly worsened

In 2022, the Grade I-III and Grade V groundwater were 77.6% and 22.4%, respectively. Despite “remained stable” according to the SOEE report, both categories have worsened slightly by 1.8% compared to 2021. That said, it still meets the 14FYP target of Grade V category less than 25%. Note that this new target has been revised since December 2021.

Overall groundwater quality remains static, much work needed

Clearly, overall groundwater quality remains static, and much work needs to be done. This could be attributed to the problem of groundwater pollution in areas surrounding some key pollution sources has not been effectively controlled, with contaminants exceeding the standard limits, according to the Minister of MEE prior to the release of SOEE.