The government of north China's Tianjin municipality has transformed the saved water diverted from Luanhe River into urban civil use and extracted capital from water prices to develop highly efficient water-saving agriculture -- an attempt to optimize the distribution of water by market means.

The government transferred the 50 million cubic meters of water saved in industries to urban residents and input 20 million yuan from water fees for the improvement of water-saving technologies.

As one of China's cities troubled with severe water shortage, Tianjin has had its need with water from Luan River and Yellow River. Currently the recycle rate of industrial water is 85 percent and the water needed for an output value of 10, 000 yuan drops to 24 cubic meters, the penetration rate of water-saving equipment and tools rose to 55 percent. The city's water supply decreased from 2.2 million cubic meters in 1999 to 1.517 million cubic meters in 2004.

Last year, the industries that realized 71 percent of the city's total industrial output consumed only 40 percent of the city's total industrial water. The agricultural output value was 5.3 percent higher than that in 2003 with no more water used.

By People's Daily Online