Water price reform to be completed by 2015

China is expected to complete water pricing reforms by 2015 with a focus on industrial water, said an official from the National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday.

Zhou Wangjun, deputy director at the price department of the NDRC, said at the eighth China International Water Business Summit in Beijing that the water-thirsty country needs to build a price mechanism that can help save the precious resource.

According to Zhou, his department is also working on a system that will charge extra fees for non-residential water users, especially water-consuming industrial users, many of which are in sectors burdened by overcapacity.

Statistics showed that less than 60 percent of industrial water in China is recycled.

Analysts said that investment in recycled water from both government and companies is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan ($4.92 billion) in the next three years.