However, many people who have lived along the Yangtze for a long time hold that the river water is so abundant they do not need to save water at all.

Shen Tai, deputy director of the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee, said extravagant use of water is common along the Yangtze.

Statistics released by the committee show that to date, the Yangtze's water resources reuse rate in the industrial sector merely exceeds 30 percent.

In addition, the current irrigation systems used by locals along the Yangtze were largely produced in the 1950s and 1960s. Equipment has become obsolete and cannot utilize water efficiently.

Although the Yangtze's annual water resource volume has reached 960 billion cubic meters, saving water is still a pressing need, according to experts.

By 2000, the total water consumption volume of the Yangtze rose to 173.6 billion cubic meters. Since then, the figure has continued to increase by one percent year on year. Meanwhile, China's large-scale "Go West" campaign is expected to consume more water resources for economic development.

In addition, the gigantic south-to-north water diversion project is planned to transfer about 60 billion cubic meter water from the Yangtze.

According to an internationally recognized standard, a river's water resources consumption volume should not exceed 40 percent of the river's total water volume.

By this standard, the Yangtze's water resources development room will be limited in the future.

Moreover, normally 0.7 cubic meters of industrial waste is produced when every one cubic meter of water resources is utilized. The more water resources are used, the more water pollution is produced.

In this way, economizing on using water also means alleviating water pollution, experts say.

Experts suggest that to save water resources, great efforts should be made in setting an overall water consumption volume and trying to reduce the volume year on year by taking such measures as using water-saving irrigation systems, enhancing locals' consciousness of saving water and standardizing the water consumption volume of factories.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2003)