Water Prices Up Nearly 50% As South China Drought Intensifies

Authorities in southern China's Guangdong province have hiked water prices by 47 percent and are diverting a river in the latest efforts to fend off a severe drought, state press reported Thursday.
The price for water use in ordinary households in the provincial capital of Guangzhou rose from 0.9 yuan (11 cents) a cubic meter to 1.32 yuan on January 1, the Southern Metropolitan Daily reported.

The rise far outpaced earlier government pledges to restrict the increase to 32 percent as agreed to at a public hearing held in September, angering many residents, it said.

"The price rise has caused dissatisfaction and hard feelings among the public that are understandable," Zhu Yongping, a delegate to the Guangzhou People's Congress told the paper. "The public hearing on the price rise was flawed, there was not enough transparency in the process."

The rise comes as the coastal province is in the midst of a two-year drought that has sent water levels on local rivers and underground plunging. The lack of water in the rivers has allowed huge salt-water tides to contaminate fresh water supplies. The salt tide is especially pronounced along the Xi River, a major tributary of the Pearl River that supplies the cities of Zhongshan, Zhuhai and the former Portuguese colony of Macau with drinking water.

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