China is facing a shortage of water resources, with a per capita water resource share of approximately 2100 cubic meters, which is a quarter of the world average. According to international standards, per capita water resources below 3000 cubic meters are considered mild water scarcity, below 2000 cubic meters are considered moderate water scarcity, below 1000 cubic meters are considered severe water scarcity, and below 500 cubic meters are considered extreme water scarcity. According to this, there are currently 16 provinces (regions, cities) in China with severe water shortages, and 6 provinces and regions with extreme water shortages.
On one hand, there is a shortage of water, requiring an investment of billions of yuan to regulate hydrolysis difficulties. On the other hand, the inefficient use of water resources, as well as serious waste such as leakage and leakage, are very serious. At present, the reuse rate of industrial water in China is about 60% to 65%, while in developed countries it is generally above 80% to 85%. Household water waste is also significant. A recent survey by Xinhua News Agency also showed that the leakage rate of China's urban water supply network is over 15%. Excluding the normal loss rate, if it can be reduced by 10 percentage points, it can save at least 5.2 billion cubic meters of water, which is conservatively calculated to be equivalent to more than 2000 Kunming lakes.
The leakage percentage of a pipeline network is the ratio of the amount of water leakage in the network to the total amount of water supplied. According to official statistics, the average leakage rate of water supply networks in over 600 cities in China exceeds 15%, with the highest reaching over 70%; Another statistics for 408 cities show that the average leakage rate of urban public water supply systems is 21.5%. Due to factors such as pipeline leakage and inability to collect water fees, the production and sales gap of the water supply trunk line in a provincial capital city in China is as high as 41%. By comparison, the national average leakage rate in Japan dropped to 9.1% in 1997, 7.6% in Tokyo in 1999, and 6.6% in Osaka in 1990.
Why does China's leakage rate remain high? The pipeline network is aging, the quality of the pipes is poor, the quality is not up to standard, the construction standards are low, there is a lack of maintenance, "heavy above ground construction, light underground planning", urban construction construction often touches the pipeline network, and so on. However, it is not realistic to carry out large-scale water pipeline network renovation in many places because it requires huge costs.
In fact, the average pipeline age in China is not large, and it is relatively young compared to developed countries. Under normal circumstances, the leakage rate should not be so high. However, in many places, due to the use of pipes with poor technical performance, the frequency of pipe bursts and leaks is high, increasing the probability of water interruption, leakage rate, and maintenance workload. The corrosion of metal pipe walls is severe, which affects the service life of the pipeline and the water quality of the water supply.
The 15% leakage rate of the pipeline network can be seen as a microcosm of China's economy, with high growth and high consumption, focusing on the current rather than the long-term. When Huawei was promoting business process change in the early days, Ren Zhengfei once said, "We don't have time to do things right at once, but we always have time to do things over and over again.". If the Chinese economy cannot firmly prioritize "good" over "fast", those "bad" things will always appear, and they will accumulate more and more, even if the accumulation is difficult to reverse. (Reprinted from the First Financial Daily)
