Regulations of Jiangsu Province on the Economical Use of Water

(Adopted at the Twentieth Meeting of the Standing Committee at the Twelfth People’s Congress of Jiangsu Province on January 15, 2016.)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Water Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations, in light of the specific situation of this Province, and for the purposes of promoting the conservation of water resources in the society, improving the efficiency of using water, protecting and improving ecological environment, constructing water-saving society and promoting sustainable development of economy and society.

Article 2 These Regulations apply to the economical use of water and activities of its supervision and administration within the administrative area of this Province.

Article 3 The economical use of water shall follow the principle of unified planning, reasonable allocation, control in total amount, intensive utilization and improvement of efficiency, and establish the mechanism of economical use of water under the leadership of the government, with the coordination of departments, market guidance and public participation.

Article 4 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall include the economical use of water into the national economy and social development planning and their annual plan, formulate policies in favor of economical use of water and promote the economical use of water in the whole society.

The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall establish a responsibility system of the economical use of water and an evaluation system.

Article 5 The provincial competent administrative department of water conservancy is responsible for the economical use of water in the whole province, drawing up policies on the economical use of water, formulating planning of economical use of water, setting relevant standards, guiding and promoting the construction of water-saving society in the province, formulating a system of total control of water use, quota management and water use planning and organizing the implementation, guiding the construction and management of water-saving irrigation projects and examining the development and use of water resources and the implementation of major index on conservation and protection along with relevant departments.

The provincial competent administrative department of development and reform is responsible for the coordination and connection of the plan and index of the economical use of water and the national economy and social development plan as well as plans of conservation of resources and comprehensive usage, participating in the formulation of laws, regulations and policies of the use of water, and along with other relevant departments arranging major projects of the economical use of water and Issuing  devices (products) of water conservation and the Catalog of Guidelines.

The provincial competent department of housing and urban and rural construction shall guide the work of water conservation, formulate the system, measures and detailed standards of water conservation in terms of city planning and construction and municipal public utilities in accordance with the policies, plans and standards of the economical use of water and implement the requirements of water conservation.

The competent departments of other industries in this Province shall implement the requirements of water conservation in accordance with the policies, plans and standards of the economical use of water and in combination of the management of the industry.

Relevant competent departments of water conservancy, development and reform and construction of the people’s governments of cities divided into districts, counties (cities or districts) shall do well work of the economical use of water in light of their respective duties and functions.

Article 6 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall carry out activities of the popularization and education on the economical use of water, include the education on the economical use of water into the system of citizens’ quality education and the teaching content of elementary and secondary education, popularize knowledge of the economical use of water, and raise citizens’ awareness of the economical use of water.

Every unit and individual has the duty of using water economically and the right to report the act of serious waste of water.

News media shall carry out the popularization of the economical use of water for public interests and supervision by public opinions.

Chapter II Management of Water Use

Article 7 The competent administrative department of water conservancy the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall in accordance with the plan of the economical use of water of the people’s government at higher level and the needs of economic and social development, situations of water resources and comprehensive plans of water resources in its area, formulate the plan of the economical use of water in its administrative area in accordance with law and report it to the people’s government of corresponding level for approval and implementation.

The formulation of the urban and rural planning and regional and industrial development planning shall include the economical use of water.

Article 8 This Province shall conduct a control system of regional total amount and intensity of the use of water and establish a control index system of the total amount and intensity of the use of water covering the administrative regions of three levels, namely, the province, cities divided into districts and counties.

The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall formulate the annual plan of the use of water in this administrative region in accordance with the control index of the total amount and intensity of the use of water.

Article 9 The quota of the use of water in the industry shall be formulated by relevant provincial industrial competent department and reported to the provincial administrative competent department of water conservancy and administrative competent department of quality and technical supervision for examination and approval. If the industry does not have subordinate competent department, the quota for the use of water for the industry shall be formulated by the provincial administrative competent department of water conservancy along with the provincial administrative competent department of quality and technical supervision. The quota of the use of water in the industry shall be released by the provincial people’s government and reported to the administrative competent department of water conservancy of the State of Council and the administrative competent department of quality and technical supervision of the State of Council for record.

Cities divided into districts may formulate the quota of the use of water in the industry in this administrative region stricter than the products with provincial stipulations or those without provincial stipulations and report it to the provincial administrative competent departments of water conservancy and the quality and technical supervision for record.

The quota of the use of water in the industry shall be revised according to the target determined by the efficiency red line for the use of water, the change of the need of the use of water, technical advancement and economic development on time.

Article 10 The administrative competent department of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall conduct a planned management of use of water on the units which get water from their own water sources or use a large amount of water from public water supply. For the units which use a large amount of water from public water supply, the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall, along with the competent department of water supply, issue the plan for the use of water. The plan of the use of water shall be determined by the annual plan of the use of water of this administrative region, the quota of the use of water in the industry and the need of the use of water in the unit.

Where the user of water with a plan needs to change the plan of the use of water because of construction, production, operation and so on, it shall apply to the administrative competent department of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level in a written form and the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall reply within ten working days upon receiving the application in a written form.

The administrative competent department of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall, along with relevant departments, examine the use of water on the user of water with a plan in accordance with the plan of the use of water.

Article 11 The price and financial departments of the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall, in light of the principle of compensating for the cost, reasonable benefits, good price for good quality and fair sharing of burdens, establish and complete the mechanism for the price of water such as classified prices, differentiated water prices and laddered water prices, and promote and guide the economical use of water in the society along with relevant departments in accordance with local situations of water resources and economic development.

Article 12 Where the user of water with a plan exceeds the plan and gets water from self-owned water sources such as groundwater and surface water, a fee for water resources shall be charged progressively for the excessive part according to the following standard and the information of the charges shall be publicized to the society every year:

(1) for the part that exceeds more than 5% but less than 10% of the plan, one time of water resources fee shall be charged;

(2) for the part that exceeds more than 10% but less than 20% of the plan, twice of water resources fee shall be charged;

(3) for the part that exceeds more than 20% but less than 30% of the plan, three times of water resources fee shall be charged;

(4) for the part that exceeds more than 30%, five times of water resources fee shall be charged.

Where the user of water with a plan who uses public water supply exceeds the plan, progressive fees shall be charged, and the progressively charged fees shall be totally submitted to the financial special account and used for the conservation and protection of water resources.

Article 13 The user of water with a plan shall strengthen the daily maintenance of facilities for the use and conservation of water, establish a record account of the use and conservation of water, regularly conduct analyses on the reasonability of the use of water and tests of water balance and submit the report of the use and conservation of water on time.

The major users of water with a plan shall conduct a test of water balance once every three years and other users of water with a plan shall conduct a test of water balance once every five years. Where the user of water with a plan uses water exceeding 30% of the plan, he shall conduct tests of water balance and receive the auditing of the use of water by the administrative competent department of water conservancy and make corrections on the existing problems.

The administrative competent departments of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall regularly carry out auditing of the use of water for major users of water with a plan. If problems are found, the major users of water with a plan shall make corrections.

The name list of major users of water with a plan shall be decided by the provincial administrative competent department of water conservancy and publicized to the society.

Article 14 Users of water with a plan shall, in accordance with the requirements stipulated by the State and this Province, install and use the qualified measurement facilities for the use of water to measure water of different kinds in a respective and differentiated way.

The measurement facilities for the use of water of the users of water with a plan who get surface water over 100,000 cubic meters or groundwater over 50,000 cubic meters shall meet the requirements of long-distance monitoring of water resources, and be connected and operated with the water resources administrative information system of the administrative competent department of water conservancy.

Article 15 The provincial administrative competent department of water conservancy shall, along with statistics institutes, housing and urban and rural construction departments, establish a system of statistics and investigation of the economical use of water, set up a statistic index system for the use of water, standardize statistic methods and ensure the objectivity and authenticity of statistic data such as the amount of the use of water and index of the conservation of water of the unit and individual user of water.

Chapter III Efficiency Control

Article 16 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall, in light with the conditions of water resources within its region and requirements of economic and social development, reasonably adjust the industrial structure and production layout of industry and agriculture and efficiently use water resources.

Areas with insufficient water resources or serious water pollution  shall strictly control the construction of industrial projects which consume a large amount of water and the development of service industries which consume a large amount of water and restrict the extensive agricultural irrigation.

Article 17 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the administration of the efficiency of the use of water and where the overall efficiency of the use of water of the cities divided into districts and counties (cities or districts) is below the control standard of the efficiency of the use of water of the State or this Province, the use of water shall not be increased in the plan; where the efficiency of the use of water of the users of water with a plan is below the control standard, the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall cut down the use of water in the plan.

Article 18 The provincial water conservancy administrative competent department of water conservancy shall, along with relevant departments, formulate water-saving society modeling areas and water-saving carriers construction standards and supervise their implementation, promote and standardize the economical use of water among areas, industries and user of water in a classified way and establish a long-term mechanism for the construction of water-saving society.

Relevant provincial administrative competent departments shall strengthen the guidance on the construction of water-saving society modeling areas, water-saving carriers and national water-saving cities.

Article 19 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the situations of water resources in its area, optimize agricultural production layout, reasonably adjusting agricultural plantation structure, strengthen the administration of agricultural irrigation, restrict the extensive use of water like broad irrigation and develop water-saving, efficient and modern agriculture.

The administrative competent departments of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall , in accordance with the plan of the economical use of water, formulate the implementation plan of the economical use of water in agriculture, construct irrigation facilities for the economical use of water in agriculture, equip corresponding devices and promote the application of new water-saving technology in agriculture along with agricultural administrative competent department.

Rural collective economic organizations and individuals shall be encouraged to invest to construct irrigation facilities for the economical use of water in agriculture, and the areas which lack water such as hilly areas and the north Huaihe River areas of Anhui Province shall be supported to construct facilities of retaining rain such as reservoirs and dam reservoirs.

Article 20 The administrative competent departments of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall, along with relevant departments, carry out the management of the use of water in agriculture by combining planned  use of water and quota management and implement a water price system by combining the basic water price and metering water price.

Article 21 Industrial enterprises shall carry out the control on the use of water in production during the whole process, by means of water recycle, dual water supply and water reuse, etc., to reduce the consumption of water and improve the efficiency of the reuse of water. The industrial indirect cooling water and condensed water shall be recycled or reused and not discharged directly.

Industrial enterprises shall establish and complete a system of the economical use of water, improve the efficiency of internal water metering, conduct metering management of the use of water, regularly analyze the statistics of the use of water, and report the statements of the use of water and the conservation of water on time.

Article 22 Enterprises which use water as a major ingredient to produce products such as drinks and drinking water shall adopt water-saving production techniques, technologies and equipment. The utility rate of water as ingredient shall not be lower than the standards prescribed by the State and this Province and the tail water shall be reused.

Article 23 Public water supply enterprises shall adopt advanced techniques of water production, regularly inspect pipelines and immediately maintain, renovate leakage and damage and the rate of self-used water and the rate of pipeline leakage and damage shall meet the standard of the State and the industrial standard.

Article 24 Industrial accumulated areas shall promote water-saving technologies such as series use of water, reclaimed water reuse and recycle of used water and construct water-saving industrial accumulated areas.

Article 25 One-family-one-meter practice shall be promoted in residents’ domestic use of water, and the use of water-saving appliances shall be encouraged.

Public buildings shall use water-saving appliances, complete water-metering facilities, and ensure the normal operation of equipment and appliances of the use of water and pipelines. Where the constructed buildings are not equipped with water-saving appliances, a change shall be made within a prescribed time limit.

Article 26 Operators of industries with special use of water such as bathing, vehicle washing, swimming pools, golf courses shall adopt water-saving technologies such as consuming less water and recycling water, equipment or facilities.

Service enterprises such as catering, entertainment and hotel shall adopt water-saving appliances and gradually get rid of devices which consume a large amount of water.

Article 27 Where a new construction, renovation or extension project needs to draw water, the construction unit shall formulate a plan of the conservation of water, construct supportive water-saving facilities and ensure the water-saving facilities and the main project be designed, constructed and put into use at the same time. The construction unit shall not stop using the existing water-saving facilities without permission.

When examining the construction project which draws water over 100,000 cubic meters a year, the development and reform competent department shall, along with administrative competent department of water conservancy, evaluate the plan of the conservation of water; when the construction unit organizes the completion and acceptance of projects, the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall participate.

Article 28 A sign management system of water efficiency shall be promoted among water-using products in accordance with the provisions of the State.

Advanced water-saving technologies, techniques, devices and products shall be encouraged to use. The water-using techniques, devices and products which are on the elimination catalogue of State shall be not produced, sold and used.

The application catalogue of encouraged water-using techniques, devices and products in this Province shall be released by the Provincial People’s Government.

No unit or individual is allowed to assign users to buy or use specified water-saving appliances.

Chapter IV Use of Unconventional Water Resources

Article 29 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall include the unconventional water resources such us reused water, rain, sea water, slight saline water and mine water into the unified allocation of water resources.

Article 30 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall organize to formulate the plan of using unconventional water resources and include the use of unconventional water into the strictest water resources management system and the target responsibility evaluation on environmental protection.

Article 31 In the design of new construction, extension and renovation of the sewage disposal plant which has the sewage disposal capacity of over 50,000 cubic meters a day, if conditions permit, a system of water recycling shall be constructed correspondingly. The sewage disposal plant which has the sewage disposal capacity of less than 50,000 cubic meters a day shall be encouraged to construct a system of water recycling correspondingly.

Industrial concentrated areas shall have an overall planning to construct collective sewage disposal facilities and a system of water recycling and the enterprises in the areas with conditions shall use the reused water which meets the requirements of the useable water quality.

Article 32 For municipal use of water such as urban and rural greening, environmental sanitation, building construction, road and vehicle washing, use of water for enterprise production such as cooling and washing, use of water for environment such as scenic landscape and ecological wetland, if conditions permit, reused water shall be used. If it is suitable to use reused water in places such as government organs in centralized area, schools, restaurants, hotels and residential areas, reused water shall be encouraged to use.

Article 33 Urban construction shall be in line with the renovation of urban rain and sewage pipelines and facilities of drainage and prevention of water logging. Measures shall be taken to strengthen the collection and use of rain by constructing low elevation greenbelt, sunken plaza, penetration pavement, grassed swales and rain garden, and affiliated facilities such as rain infiltration and collection and use.

The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall construct penetration ground and affiliated facilities of collection and use of rain when conducting construction of the new area, renovation of the old city and construction of municipal infrastructure facilities. The size of the penetrable area of the hardened ground in the newly-built urban area shall not be lower than the standards set by the State and this Province.

For the newly-built structures with a planned area for the use of land over 20,000 square meters, a system of rain purification, penetration and collection and use shall be constructed correspondingly.

Chapter V Incentives and Safeguard Measures

Article 34 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall establish an investment mechanism of the economical use of water and guide and encourage social funds and private capitals to invest into the industry of conservation of water.

An initial distribution system of the right of using water shall be promoted and the amount of water saved by users of water with a plan may be traded according to relevant provisions of the State.

Article 35 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall increase financial investment, formulate policies and measures to promote the economical use of water, promote water-saving technologies, techniques, devices and products by means such as regulating the water price, financial subsidy and reward for conservation of water, encourage and support the development and use of non-conventional water sources. They shall arrange all kinds of water conservancy development such as water conservancy construction of farmlands, water resources management and special guidance funds for the water conservancy rewards in a unified way and give support to projects such as the construction of water-saving society model area and water-saving carriers, water balance tests, renovation of water-saving technology and use of non-conventional water sources.

The people’s governments of the cities divided into districts, counties (cities or districts) in coastal areas shall formulate supportive policies, encourage and guide users to use sea water comprehensively.

Article 36 The local people’s governments at or above the county level and relevant departments shall foster, support and develop social organizations of the economical use of water, guide the public to widely participate in the activities of the economical use of water. They shall promote the contract management of the conservation of water, support service institutes of the economical use of water to carry out services on the consultation, design, evaluation, examination and authentication of the economical use of water.

Article 37 The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall foster and develop industries of the conservation of water, strengthen the promotion system construction of scientific and technological application of the economical use of water and promote the use of advanced and suitable water-saving technologies and products.

Units and individuals shall be encouraged and supported to conduct scientific and technological research on the economical use of water, develop and promote the water-saving technologies and products.

Article 38 The administrative competent departments of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall establish a reward system for the economical use of water, and commend or reward the unit or individual under any of the following circumstances:

(1) the user of water with a plan has a significant achievement in the economical use of water and reduction on the consumption of water resources;

(2) the consumption of water supply in the enterprise of public water supply is obviously lower than the standard of the State;

(3) having a great achievement in the use of non-conventional water sources;

(4) making great contributions to the research and promotion on the technologies, techniques, devices and products of the economical use of water;

(5) having outstanding performance in the dissemination and education on the economical use of water; or

(6) reporting the act of severely wasting water which is verified.

Chapter VI Legal Liabilities

Article 39 If the user of water with a plan, in violation of the provisions of the second and third paragraph of Article 13 in these Regulations, fails to conduct water balance tests, accept auditing of the use of water, or make corrections on the existing problems, the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall order him to make correction within a prescribed time limit; if he fails to make corrections within a prescribed time limit, a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 30,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 40 If the water metering facilities of the user of water with a plan, in violation of provisions of the second paragraph of Article 14 in these Regulations, fails to meet the requirements of water resources long-distance monitoring or be connected with and operated in the water resources administration information system of the administrative competent department of water conservancy, the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall order him to make corrections within a prescribed time limit and impose a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 10,000 yuan; if he fails to make corrections within a prescribed time limit, a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 41 If any enterprise, in violation of the provisions of Article 21 and Article 22 in these Regulations, fails to recycle or reuse indirectly cooling water and condensed water, or reuse tail water, the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall order it to make corrections within a prescribed time limit and impose a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan; if it fails to make corrections within a prescribed time limit, the planned amount of the use of water shall be cut down.

Article 42 If in violation of the provisions of Article 23 in these Regulations, the rate of self-used water or the rate of pipeline leakage and damage in the enterprise with public water supply exceeds the standard of the State and the industrial standard, the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall order it to make corrections within a prescribed time limit; if it fails to make corrections within a prescribed time limit, a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 30,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 43 If in violation of provisions of the first paragraph of Article 26 in these Regulations, any operator of industries with special use of water fail to adopt water-saving technologies such as consuming less water and recycling water, equipment or facilities, the administrative competent department of water conservancy shall order it to make corrections within a prescribed time limit; if it fails to make corrections within a prescribed time limit, a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 44 Where administrative competent departments of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level or other relevant departments fail to perform their duties and responsibilities in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations, the person directly in charge and the person directly responsible shall be given administrative sanctions.

Where a member of the administrative competent departments of water conservancy of the local people’s governments at or above the county level or other relevant departments conducts malpractice for personal gains, abuses his power or neglects his duty, he shall be given administrative sanctions; if a crime is constituted, the criminal liabilities shall be investigated according to law.

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Article 45 The user of water with a plan as used in these Regulations refers to the user of water who is incorporated into the plan of administration of the use of water, including the unit whose annual amount of the use of self-owned water sources and the use of public water supply reach the standard stipulated by the cities divided into districts.

The auditing of water as used in these Regulations refers to the supervision, identification and evaluation of the administrative competent department of water conservancy on the compliance, economy and impacts on the ecological environment of activities such as the collection, use, consumption, and drainage of water conducted by users of water with a plan.

The reused water as used in these Regulations refers to the waste water which reaches a certain standard of water quality and satisfies the requirements for some use and can be used after disposal.

Article 46 These Regulations shall come into effect as of May 1 2016.