9. Water Quality Management

This chapter analyzes water quality management in China, including the legal framework, institutional design, key management instruments and problems, and suggestions for improvement. In China, increasing numbers of critical water quality problems have been exposed in recent years. In order to deal with water quality management, China has developed a separate, sectoral management system, where instruments including standards, function zones, permits, and charges are extensively applied. However, this arrangement has resulted in a range of problems, including an unintegrated framework, overlapping functions, focus on pollution control, poor implementation, and inadequate capacity. Solving these problems and improving water quality will be a laborious process for China. However, China can start by fully implementing and reforming the current system, restructuring water quality management institutions, managing its water resources within a river basin context, and encouraging market-based approaches. This would help the country improve not only in terms of its environment but also in terms of its development.