HANGZHOU – Facing the worst and most persistent drought in 50 years or even longer throughout Southwest China, authorities inaugurated the National Water Museum of China, the first of its kind, today (March 22), the 18th World Water Day, and launched the country's 23rd water campaign week to make the public fully aware of this issue.
Inside the museum, an exhibition was unveiled to showcase the history of China's water conservancy, so that thousands of visitors can learn how the nation harnesses its rivers and other water systems for survival, as well as discover the water science and technologies it used in the past and the present, the changing water ecology and the culture the conservation effort has sustained for Chinese civilization.
The 36,500 square meter steel and glass complex, with a 129-m high sightseeing pagoda above, was erected south of the Qiantang River after its approval by the central government five years ago, resources with the Ministry of Water Resources said.
With the help of the museum and its display, Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Party Central Committee, and Vice-premier Hui Liangyu, said in their congratulatory letter for the event that they hope the nation and the people can carry forward its fine tradition in the field, treasure water resources and push forward to secure the country's sustainability.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Chen Lei, minister of water resources, called on all of China to gain a better understanding of the relationship between humans and water resources.
"Water resources have become a key factor restricting the world's sustainability today, with many countries' further development - including China's - seriously challenged," Chen warned. "We are commemorating World Water Day 2010 and China's Water Week together with the museum's opening ceremony in the hope of highlighting the issue for more people."
The theme for World Water Day for 2010 is "Clean Water for a Healthy World." China marked the day by choosing the theme of "putting the strictest management of water resources into practice for securing its socio-economic sustainability."
Although China has experienced the fastest economic growth of its history over the past three decades, the total water resources it has consumed to meet rising demands has only increased slightly. Even the water supplied for farming, a sector that consumes over 60 percent of the total water supplied, has achieved zero growth.
Chen attributed this success to the government's introduction of a number of water-related laws and regulations for improving water protection and management, enhancing the resources allocation throughout the country and setting to build a water-saving society.
Even so, the country is still plagued by water-related problems including drought, scarcity of resources, floods and water logging, water contamination and soil erosion. Much of these problems are due to China's uneven water distribution, which features more water in the south and less in the north, not to mention various new challenges brought by global climate change.
Chen urged local authorities to fundamentally change their use of water resources, which, he warned, would otherwise lead to rather low water-efficiency with their water protection and management, eventually lagging behind the economic growth they expected.
To secure sustainability, he said, the country has to do a good job solving its increasingly complicated water issues by carrying out the most stringent management of water resources, with top priority given to the reasonable exploitation of water resources, high-efficiency utilization, and better distribution.
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