Water management. In the field of drinking water supply, China has achieved an almost 100% coverage of piped water supply to cities, though with shortcomings in quality. Northern China has many cities with water scarcity and, thus, non-traditional forms of water harvesting need to be explored. A bigger agenda is there for waste water treatment, and waste water has received recent attention as a potential source of biogas which can be converted to energy. China’s largest water issue is periodic flooding, mostly in coastal typhoon-affected areas. This has triggered integrated water management as a national policy and programme, now labelled as “sponge city” approach. The “sponge city” approach is meant to create water absorption capacity to reduce flood risks. The water-related policies of the 13th FYP have called for increased efficiency in water use, and the reduced energy use in water cleaning, transmission, and waste water treatment.
