5. Water Resources Allocation and Regulation

This chapter analyzes the water resources allocation and regulation framework and implementation progress in China. Based on China’s administrative management system and river basin management arrangements, water resource allocation and regulation in China can be divided into three aspects: spatially, water resources allocation and regulation includes the river basin, province, prefecture, county, permit, and individual user levels; temporally, it consists of the annual average and annual/seasonal frameworks; and in terms of definition, it is managed according to abstraction, consumption, and use. In contrast with other countries, China assumes a complicated system for water control due to its vast land area, diverse water resource circumstances, and centralized administrative system. The complex nature of China’s system demands rigorous management techniques and structures. Under this framework, water trades are explored by applying several market mechanisms.