China’s water management – challenges and solutions

China has experienced enormously rapid development since the open door policy introduced in 1979. Population has increased by 30% to 1.3 billion, and the annual GDP growth rate is at 9.8 %. Nevertheless, frequent water disasters of recent years have caused significant damage to China’s regional growth and societies. There are huge contemporary challenges for Chinese water resources management. In this paper, we examine three major challenges for China’s water resource management, which are water scarcity, water pollution and flood management. Then, we discuss how Chinese water resources can be better managed. China will be further developed during this century and we provide some foresight on ways water resource management could be undertaken in China to increase resilience in face of a capricious future.