SHENZHEN would not raise water prices after restrictions are imposed on water drawn from the Dongjiang River, officials with the municipal water resources bureau said.

The water supply cap would also not affect the volume of water that the city can draw from the river, the officials said.

Provincial water resources authorities announced earlier this week that water drawn from the river would be capped at 10.66 billion cubic meters each year for the cities of Shenzhen, Heyuan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Guangzhou and Hong Kong to protect the river, one of the three major water systems in the Pearl River Delta region. The Dongjiang River can supply a total of 32 billion cubic meters of water a year.

Although no timetable had been given for the plan, the provincial water resources authorities have made it clear that the water quotas now applying to these cities will not be reduced.

The new move was aimed at maintaining a sustainable utilization of the water resources, said an unnamed official with the municipal water resources bureau. “We have to take into consideration the Dongjiang River’s capacity,” said the official. “Excessive exploitation is not in our long-term interest.”

About 70 percent of the water supplied to Shenzhen, which experiences chronic water shortages, comes from the upper reaches of the Dongjiang River, delivered by pipeline.

(SD News)