China to Charge for Urban Sewage Treatment Later This Year

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China's urban citizens will soon be facing higher water bills as the country imposes a new charge for city sewage treatment later this year. The fee will initially be set at 0.8 RMB (US $0.10) per ton of sewage, but this is expected to increase with future water pricing reforms. The income will be used to support sewage treatment facilities and overall management of regional water supplies, said Chou Baoxing, Director of the Ministry of Construction, at an August 22 press conference in Beijing.

As in most countries, water prices in China do not reflect the full value of water resources or the wider ecosystem services provided by watersheds. They have also traditionally not included the cost of sewage treatment. Charging for treatment on top of regular water prices is considered the first step in the country’s water price reformation. In addition to making polluters pay for the waste they generate, the new fee is expected to rationalize the regular water price for households, motivating residents to economize on resource use.

The condition of urban water resources in China has worsened in recent years. Three major pollution sources—daily sewage, industrial sewage, and agricultural waste—have not yet been effectively controlled, according to Chou. Statistics from the Ministry of Construction indicate that sewage and garbage facilities nationwide need to be revamped, and that urban areas are experiencing serious water shortages and worsening water quality.

As of late 2005, more than 150 Chinese cities did not levy fees for sewage treatment, and two-thirds of the country’s cities imposed no charge for daily garbage disposal. In cities that do impose these fees, the price is typically too low to cover the overall costs of constructing and operating the treatment facilities. In some counties, the fee paid by households for sewage treatment is as low as 0.1 RMB (1.25 cents).

The latest data from the Ministry of Construction show that 278 cities in China lack sewage treatment plants altogether, while in 30 cities, more than 50 such plants have a load rate of less than 30 percent given high operational costs and relatively low-grade infrastructure that is unable to handle the highly toxic sewage. According to the work program of the Ministry of Construction and the national 11th five-year economic plan, the Chinese government will be investing 330 billion RMB ($41.3 billion) in the construction of new sewage treatment and recycling facilities during the 2006–2010 period. The country is aiming for an urban sewage disposal rate of 70 percent by 2010, as well as the establishment of standard garbage-disposal facilities nationwide.