Xiaolan Zhang - Hai River Basin Presentation

GEF Hai Basin Integrated Water and Environment Management Project in China

Total Cost: US$ 339.54 million, including 1. Government: US$ 136.06 million;2. IBRD: US$ 186.48 million; 3. GEF Incremental Cost: US$ 17 million

Outlines 1. China’s Irrigated Agriculture and Hai Basin2. New concept and Innovations 3. Operationalized IWRM in Hai Basin4. Outcomes

1. China’s Irrigated Agriculture & Hai Basin

China’s irrigated areas: 58 million hectares increased by 8 million hectares during the past 30 years; water use 68% of total; Hai Basin’s irrigated area: 7.54 million hectares with groundwater abstraction pumped at 26 billion m3/ year, exceeds recharge by 7.2 billion m3/yr, water table drawdown by 2-3 m/yr. Surface water is overused by 2.4 billion m3/yr; Over use of water resources has resulted in serious ecological and environmental degradation and land subsidence - a big threat to 134 million people who lived in the Hai River Basin, which produces about 1/10 of grain and 1/3 of wheat in China; and The current water withdrawal permit system needs to be improved – and based on consumption rather than withdrawals

New Concept of Real Water Savings: The only water truly lost in a hydrologic system is through Evapotranspiration (ET), if genuine savings are to be made, measures should be taken to cut or reduce ET!

ET-based Water Rights System: it includes three elements, namely the amount of water withdrawal, amount of water consumption (or ET) and amount of water release;

Satellite Technology on ET Measurement: the technology has been used to monitor and evaluate ET variations and to reduce overuse of surface and groundwater resources at the pilot counties;

IWRM at the River Basin Level: the ET target (for economic activities) and pollution-discharge target (the maximum) are determined and allocated from the river basin level to the administrative and water user level for enforcement.

2. New Concept and Innovations

Note: ET ( Evapotranspiration ) is a term used to describe the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth’s land surface to atmosphere.

Use of the Latest RS-based ET Measuring Technology

Remote sensing by satellites can now provide ET readings for pixels of 30 by 30 meters with a good accuracy.

3. Operationalized IWRM in Hai Basin

We strengthened Hai Basin Commission with a joint decision making conference system to provide coordination on allocation of ET and pollution reduction targets at the Basin level and signed and implemented data sharing agreement;

As agriculture is the biggest water user, the goal was to specifically control actual ET over the irrigated areas;

We helped the government improve the current water withdrawal permit system to establish water rights based on ET rather than withdrawals.

We established farmer water user associations one of whose jobs is to ensure that their members’ actual consumptive use of water is less than the target consumptive use allocated at the basin level;

We gave farmers incentives to comply by giving them tools to increase their agricultural production or value per unit of ET (water productivity) incentives.

4. Outcomes Indicator No. 1 – The amount of real water savings for irrigated agriculture in 16 pilot counties has reached to 266 million cubic meters, which can be used to reduce groundwater overdraft, or increase water inflow to Bohai Sea, or produce higher-value outputs; Indicator No. 2 - Reduction in pollution loading to the Bohai Sea from 16 pilot counties: Original Target Value (PAD): COD 164,000 tons/year; and NH3-N 1,900 tons/year; Actual values achieved: COD 38,615 tons /year and NH3-N 4,665 tons/year;

Indicator No. 3 – Farmers’ incomes increased: In Beijing project area of farming region that is overdrawing its aquifers, the World Bank and GEF helped 360,000 farm households to save water and to leapfrog technology. Each farmer got a pre paid card for water. Once it was used up, the pump shut‐ down. Farmers used less water, they used it better, and their incomes increased five fold.‐

Results of Using Satellite Technologies to Reduce ET

Actual ET Before Project Actual ET After Project