Shanghai is promoting the sale of recycled water among corporations as a way to save the resource.
In one trial project, Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co Ltd, the local producer of Coca-Cola, will pump its reclaimed water from its factory in the Pudong New Area to Sharp China, which is in the same industrial park.
According to the Shanghai Water Authority, Shenmei's reclaimed water was produced after purifying the water used to wash beverage bottles. It will be used to flush toilets or as cooling water for Sharp's air-conditioners.
Singapore and Hong Kong are traditional rivals but they also share many similarities. Both are former British colonies, have limited natural resources and are economic powerhouses. Both are also dependent on others for water resources. Singapore sources about 40 percent of its water from Malaysia, while Hong Kong purchases 70-80 percent of its raw water from Guangdong.
Despite this similarity, the attitudes of Singapore and Hong Kong towards water security are drastically different. Singapore is highly pro-active in reducing its water dependency and securing its supply, while Hong Kong appears unbothered that its water security depends on an increasingly threatened source.
Vietnam will prioritize the sustainable conservation and management of water resources as it is an important part of the nation's 2011-2020 development strategy and the 2020 national strategy on water resources.
China has named the first regions and companies that will carry out seawater desalination pilots, in its latest move to boost development in the sector.
More than 75 percent of countries in Asia and the Pacific are experiencing a serious lack of water security, with many of them facing an imminent water crisis unless immediate steps are taken to improve management of water resources, says a new study prepared jointly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF).
More than 3,300 decomposing pigs have been pulled from the upper reaches of Shanghai’s Huangpu River – a source of drinking water for some of the mega-city’s 23 million inhabitants – but the authorities insist the city’s tap water is still safe to drink.
In a stark illustration of China's problems with environmental pollution, authorities had little immediate explanation on how so many dead pigs ended up in the river or what killed them.
Thai Tap Water Supply Plc (TTW), Thailand’s largest non-state producer of drinking water, has announced plans to invest 23.8 billion baht (USD798 million) over five years to expand its business into other Southeast Asian countries. The company says it is studying businesses opportunities in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia.
The chickens from China’s decades-long custom of turning a blind eye to the damage inflicted on its environment in return for developing an economic powerhouse are finally coming home to roost as an increasingly-agitated populace demands action from its leaders.
With suffocating smog in Beijing and other major cities still making headlines around the world, renewed focus is now being turned on China’s deplorable fresh water conditions as the government scrambles to show it is in control by issuing reams of new standards on industrial pollution and promising to punish violators.
Despite plans to invest up to USD850 billion over the next ten years in a bid to improve filthy water supplies, experts warn of minimal impact on the damage caused by decades of pollution during China’s rapid economic growth. Rather than more cost-effectively preventing pollution at source, money is being poured into water treatment and desalination.
The central government has earmarked 4 trillion yuan (USD650 million) for investment in rural water conservation projects between 2011 and 2020 – four times as much as was spent in the previous decade.
Shaanxi province will accelerate the construction of 10 key water projects including diverting water from the Hangjiang River to the Weihe River in the next decade.
The Thai government faces a legal challenge to the bidding procedures for a THB350 billion (USD11.7 billion) water-management scheme – drawn up in the wake of massive flooding in 2011 - over concerns about the likelihood of corruption in the contract process.
The major elements of the scheme have also been criticized by a Japanese expert as being unnecessary, which will reinforce local concerns that – like many major infrastructure projects in Thailand – it is a boondoggle designed to line the pockets of politicians and bureaucrats.
In a country well used to the everyday reality of water pollution, revelations that industrial companies have been illegally pumping hazardous waste underground for years has shocked many in China.
Underground water pollution is a serious matter in China because groundwater-based sources account for a third of the country’s total water resources. Experts say that 90 percent of the nation's groundwater contains varying degrees of pollution, with a massive 60 percent being heavily polluted.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), collaborating with a team at Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, have filed for patents on a new water purification system that turns the produced water from natural gas wells into drinking water.
The Chinese government reassured India this week that dams it is planning to build on the Brahmaputra River would not impact flood control efforts or the ecological environment in downstream regions.
Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has approved an environmental assessment of the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) in Changhua, although water issues continue to be the main issue. The EPA has agreed that all CTSP-discharged waste water will be closely monitored for contaminants.
Vietnam is introducing a waste-water system to reduce pollution in its largest city. Ho Chi Minh City has proposed zoning plan for waste-water discharge areas covering 97 rivers, streams and waterways.
Laos has signed a land deal for a 390-MW hydroelectric project in the south of the country to supply electricity to Thailand. While final decisions are still awaited for the Xayaburi Dam project, the new USD1.25 billion project in Attapeu and Champassak provinces is expected to start in July.
This report by the World Bank spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
Companies in Asia reveal expectations that regulations that could lead to rising costs for reporting and reducing GHG emissions will also be the main sources of climate-related business opportunities.
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