"Zero growth" means higher input-output efficiency and stronger water-saving capacity. Among them, updating development concepts, innovation of water use systems, and innovation of water-saving technology are the keys. Accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development requires greater value and achieving the greatest economic and social benefits with the least resource and environmental cost. Promoting harmony between people and water requires both hard support from technological innovation and strong guarantee of perfect system; it is inseparable from the "big move" of water diversion projects, and the "embroidery skills" of fine governance. Not long ago, a set of data introduced by Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying is intriguing: in the past 10 years, with the growth of my country's GDP nearly twice, the total water use in the country has achieved "zero growth".
Economic and social development will inevitably consume energy and resources. From 2014 to 2024, my country's total social electricity consumption increased from 5.52 trillion kilowatt-hours to 9.85 trillion kilowatt-hours, an increase of more than 78%. In comparison, what is the "magic" behind the "zero growth" of water consumption?
There are answers in spring. In Maxiaoying Village, Huixian City, Henan Province, wheat seedlings grow vigorously. Villagers clicked their phones, and the gurgling clear stream flowed out of the intelligent water and fertilizer machine in high-standard farmland, and finally "feeded" to the wheat root system through drip irrigation belt. "With efficient water-saving irrigation facilities, each mu can save 20% water and 15% fertilizer, and can save labor, and the output is higher!" Sun Shaochen, president of Wufeng Cooperative, settled the accounts clearly. The "scientific and technological style" of farmland irrigation demonstrates the vigorous pulse of the new agricultural quality productivity and writes vivid footnotes for the conservation, intensive and efficient use of water resources.
"Zero growth" means higher input-output efficiency and stronger water-saving capacity. Among them, updating development concepts, reforming water use systems, and innovation in water conservation technology are the key.
Ningxia Ningdong Energy and Chemical Base implements the principle of "four waters and four determinations", promotes full-process supervision from "water source" to "faucet", achieves 100% recycled water utilization rate and 98% reusable water use rate for key monitoring of industrial water reuse rate for water enterprises. To accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, we must make every drop of water create greater value and achieve the greatest economic and social benefits with the minimum resource and environmental cost.
The annual per capita water resource possession in Taiyuan, Shanxi, is only 1/16 of the national average. It uses scientific and technological innovation to make up for the shortcomings in water resources and form a complete chain of sewage collection, treatment, and recycling. The sludge produced by sewage treatment is turned into treasure and can be used for landscaping, mine restoration, etc. The "refined" protein filtrate can also be transformed into organic fertilizer after concentration and preparation. Only by seeking motivation from innovation and solving bottlenecks and difficulties in the field of water conservation through technical research can we write a "water article" for high-quality development.
Broaden your observation horizons and gain insight into the dialectical thinking about development from the economic scale thriving and the total water consumption remains stable.
There are many people and few lands and water shortages, and the time and space distribution of water resources is uneven. This is the basic national conditions and water conditions of our country. To promote new urbanization, industrialization and agricultural modernization, we must fully consider water resources and water environment carrying capacity. Does the "maximum rigid constraint" mean that it will only form resistance to development?
Qianyong Textile Co., Ltd., Keqiao District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province used to consume 12.7 kilograms of water for every 1 meter of cloth dyed, and only earned 8 cents. After transforming to the high-end, the water consumption in the production process was reduced by more than 90%, and the product became the fabric of sportswear for some delegations of the Paris Olympics.
Practice has proved that the critical aspects of resource and environmental constraints also contain huge space and deep potential for moving towards green and transforming to high-end.
In the Chengdu Plain, Dujiangyan, an ancient water conservancy project, is embedded on the Minjiang River, nourishing the country of Tianfu. After traveling through more than 2,000 years, Li Bing and his son’s wisdom in water control has been shining with dazzling light. Now, more than seven years after the pilot project on water resource fee conversion, water resource utilization in Bashu has become increasingly efficient and water resource regulation has become increasingly accurate.
Use strict systems to strengthen rigid constraints, use price reform to stimulate endogenous motivation, combine "dispersing" and "blocking", and the government and the market "make both efforts". This method is not only suitable for water management and water control.
There is also a set of data. In 2024, the national water consumption of 10,000 yuan of GDP and 10,000 yuan of industrial added value decreased by 17.7% and 23.8% respectively compared with 2020. In contrast to the continuous decline in water consumption in various industries, the water volume in rivers and lakes around us has increased significantly. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which has been cut off for 100 years, has been flowing through the entire line for four consecutive years, 81 springs in Beijing have been flooded again after drying up for many years, and the Yongding River has flowed across the entire line for five consecutive years... One decline and one increase, reflecting a profound change in the logic of development: Chinese-style modernization is the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and the goal of water resource development and utilization is not only intensive and efficient, but also harmonious man and water symbiosis.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "to promote Chinese-style modernization, we must take water resources into account." Coordinating the governance of water disasters, water resources, water ecology, and water environment, and promoting harmony between people and water requires both hard support for technological innovation and strong guarantees for perfect systems; it is inseparable from the "big move" of water diversion projects, and the "embroidery skills" of fine governance. Everyone's actions to save water and protect water will eventually converge into a prosperous picture of rivers and lakes competing for beauty and clear water flowing.
