Comment on "Water strategy" (China Daily, May 24)

Given the fast pace of urbanization in China, water supply will be crucial to social construction. According to the existing water supply design code, the per capita demand for water in apartments with sanitary facilities, including lavatories and bathrooms, is two times as much as those without these facilities.

This means that the demand for water will jump following the construction of the planned number of affordable apartments, which is one of the goals of the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015).

China has to increase its water supply capacity drastically in the near future, which in turn means strengthening of water resources, water purification facilities and distribution system.

Authorities should take pre-emptive measures to deal with this problem and reinforce infrastructure construction.

Moreover, the government has to develop water-saving sanitary facilities and build a rational water pricing mechanism to curb the consumption of water.

The government has set water quotas for most industries. But there are no such restrictions on individuals' water consumption. The current progressive water pricing mechanism may be not enough to deal with this problem.

Ge Xiong, via e-mail

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