Another astonishing fact is that China is not lack of water. The perception of water scarcity is due to the uneven distribution of water resources, and phenomenon of water pollution and waste.

 

China’s per capita freshwater availability was around 2128 m3 (554761 gallons) per year, more than double the internationally recognized threshold at which a country would be considered to be water-scare. The problem is that there is no such thing as an average Chinese citizen in terms of access to water. More specifically, the geographic and temporal disparity of distribution of fresh water resources means that some parts of China relish in an over-abundance of fresh water, whereas other parts of China are haunted by the specters of drought and desertification, to say nothing of declining water quality. For example, Yellow River in northern China always suffers from cutoff seasonally while cities along Yangtze River in south are always warned by floods. Thus, what I think is that compared with alleviating water disparity between south and north, it is better to say that SNWT is to stabilize water supply between south and north.

 

Former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao used to say:“First conserve water, then transfer water; first treat pollution, then channel water; first protect the environment, then use water.” It is immoral to overlook the water quality in SNWT.

 

According to the system dynamics analysis conducted by Yu Yang, Lei Yin and Qigong Zhang, they established an economic model with four outcome variables: agricultural and industrial GDP as two economic indicators; accumulated wastewater and the groundwater funnel area as two environmental indicators to show the weight of water quality and water quantity in the economic development. So based on their simulation results from economic and environmental indicators at different levels of water quantity and quality, they found that “firstly, SNWT can provide sufficient water for economic growth in water-receiving regions. Secondly, there is an efficient quantity of transferred water, which shows the growth limitation for both agriculture and groundwater funnel. Thirdly, upgrades in water quality could mutually reinforce the quantity effect and greatly promote economic growth, too.” (Yang) Broadly speaking, both water quantity and quality are equally significant in SNWT. From the initial incentive of SNWT, the project should not just divert water to alleviate water pressure, it is also a good change to promote water quality rather than contaminating it, and to encourage sustainable development and create an “ecologically conscious civilization” (Yang).