Friday, October 22, 2010

Chengdu Water Pricing

Quick description of water pricing in Chengdu, as of June 2010:

Water pricing is different for households and various kinds of businesses. Household water is the cheapest, and it's subsidized. I don’t have any figures for industrial water pricing.

Household water price:
1.70 RMB/m3 for tap water
0.80 RMB/m3 for waste water treatment
Total: 2.5 RMB/m3 (0.38 dollars)
This price is a 0.35 RMB increase that started in July, and there will be another 0.35 increase in January. This is to get the water price close to the actual household water price which is about 3.00RMB in urban areas.

There are several categories of special businesses that pay a higher price for their water, because they are high-profit luxury businesses, and because they use a lot of water:

Spas and saunas, massage parlors:
10.50 RMB/m3 for tap water
4.50 RMB/m3 for waste water treatment
Total: 15.00 RMB/m3 ($2.25)

Auto-cleaning businesses:
6.60 RMB/m3 for tap water
3.40 RMB/m3 for waste water treatment
Total: 10 RMB/m3 ($1.50)

Tea houses, tobacco industry, soft drink and alcohol industry, and entertainment industry:
5.60 RMB/m3 for tap water
1.80 RMB/m3 for waste water treatment
Total: 7.40 RMB/m3 ($1.11)

Professor Yan thinks that there is an inequity in the special business water pricing. The auto-cleaning businesses obviously use a lot more water, with high-pressure hoses, for something that is pointless. (OMG what will people think if there is dirt on my car? How is this anyone’s priority? Ever??) Most likely the officials that voted on this all have personal luxury cars, and didn’t want to pay more to have them cleaned. No matter where you live, it seems, you can’t escape public officials that are preening morons.

The current actual cost of water and wastewater treatment, varies by region:
1.00-3.00 RMB/m3 for tap water (0.15-0.45 dollars)
0.50-3.00 RMB/m3 for waste water treatment (0.08-0.45 dollars)

In addition, some large cities pay a water resource exploitation fee that goes to the Ministry of Water Resources where it is allocated to water protection projects. Beijing pays 1.10 RMB/m3 and Chongqing pays 0.10 RMB/m3.

Questions I still have: How much water do households typically use? Compared to America? Why are their not more low-flow fixtures? Also, a question I can’t get a straight answer to is, can you drink the tap water? I mean, it’s treated, right? But none of the foreigners here drink it without boiling and/or filtering. I was told that the heavy metals in the water were something I should definitely avoid. But the tap water in cities is treated--a major development goal is to get city-quality tap in rural areas. I just don't know.

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