Water. desalination + reuse

REGIONS ASIA & PACIFIC Chinese lead water-reuse positivity in GE survey China desalination chief calls for more state support GE announced on 5 June 2013 the final part of the results from its three-country consumer water-reuse survey. The first two parts, revealing public opinion in Singapore and the USA, were published in October 2012. The final part concentrates on Chinese public attitudes. Approximately 90% of Chinese survey participants show a favorable attitude toward entities that choose to protect water resources or use recycled water. While The lack of an effective pricing mechanism for water produced by desalination and support for an operable policy is affecting the development of the country's seawater desalination industry, according to Li Linmei, director of the Institute of Seawater Desalination & Multipurpose Utilization in Tianjin, part of the State Oceanic Administration. Reported in China Daily, Linmei said more government support, including subsidies and a favorable pricing mechanism, was needed. According to ChinaWaterNet, current domestic water prices in coastal areas are in a range Yuan 2.4-4.9/m3 (US$ 0.39-0.80/m3) in the coastal regions, while the price of water for industry is Yuan 3.3-7.9/m3 (US$ 0.54-1.29/m3). However, Linmei says desalination plants can produce 674,000 m3/d at a cost of about 5 yuan (US$ 0.80)/m3, not including infrastructure such as pipelines. the same trend was observed by those responding to the survey in Singapore, Americans did not show as favorable a view. The majority of Chinese people agree that protection of water resources (95%) and water scarcity (87%) are national issues and only 61% and 45% view these as local issues. In line with these trends, the Chinese residents expect the national government to take the lead to resolve water scarcity issues and regard the decisions to protect the water resources as top priority for the government. International projects to feature in NCEDA desalination workshop Reports from major international projects will form the basis of a Desalination Workshop to be held in Melbourne, Australia, in November 2013 by the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia (NCEDA). An impressive panel of desalination academic and industry speakers from around the globe will showcase notable international desalination success stories. It will be held on 28-29 November 2013 at the University of Melbourne Law School in Carlton. August-September 2013 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 43 |

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