Beijing Water Authority

Beijing Water Authority has the following responsibilities.

I. It is responsible for the rational development and utilization of water resources in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for implementing the national laws, regulations, policies and strategic plans on water-related affairs; drafting the city's relevant local regulations and government regulations, formulating relevant policies and organizing the implementation thereof; and for organizing the preparation of water development plan and plans on water resources, river and lake basin, south-to-north water diversion and flood control, participating in the formulation of water supply plan and drainage plan and organizing the implementation thereof.

II. It undertakes the protection of water resources in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for organizing the formulation of water resources protection plans; and for guiding the work related to the protection of sources of drinking water, organizing and carrying out the development and utilization of groundwater, the administration and protection of groundwater resources and the comprehensive treatment of groundwater overdraft areas.

III. It takes care of the hydrological work in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for the monitoring of hydrological water resources and the construction and administration of the network of hydrological stations; for monitoring the surface water and groundwater, releasing information, intelligence forecast of hydrological water resources and water resources bulletins; and for organizing and carrying out the investigation and evaluation of water resources and the monitoring and early warning of water resources carrying capacity according to relevant regulations.

IV. It is responsible for the overall arrangement and guarantee of the water use for living, production operations and ecological environment. Particularly, it is responsible for unified allocation, dispatch, supervision and administration of water resources; for organizing the implementation of the strictest water resources management system, working out medium- and long-term water resources plan, annual supply and demand plan and water allocation plan together with relevant authorities and supervising the implementation thereof; for dispatching water resources of important river basins, areas and major water diversion projects; and for organizing the implementation of water-drawing permission (including mineral water and geothermal water) and water impact assessment (including water resources demonstration and flood control demonstration, review of water and soil conservation plan, etc.), guiding the work on paid use of water resources, and participating in the work related to administration and reform of water price and work related to water-related ecological environment compensation.

V. It is responsible for the formulation and implementation of relevant systems for the construction of water works according to regulations. Particularly, it is responsible for offering opinions on the scale and direction of fixed assets investment, and undertaking the organization, implementation, supervision and administration of fixed assets investment projects in water-related affairs; for participating in the administration of use of water funds; and for cooperating with relevant authorities to put forward economic adjustment policies and measures on water-related affairs.

VI. It undertakes the work on the supervision and administration of the water supply and drainage industries in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for organizing the implementation of the drainage permitting system; for drafting technical standards and administration specifications for the water supply and drainage industries and supervising the implementation thereof; for organizing the implementation of franchise operations in water supply and drainage industries; and for providing guidance for the work related to farmers' access to safe drinking water.

VII. It is the care taker of water conservation in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for working out the policies on water-saving, preparing the water-saving plan, and formulating the relevant quotas and standards and supervising the implementation thereof; and for organizing the implementation of administrative systems such as total water use control and planned water use, and guiding and promoting the building of a water-saving society.

VIII. It works to build Beijing into a "sponge city". Particularly, it is responsible for organizing the preparation and implementation of plans, schemes and policies to promote the building of a sponge city, organizing the formulation and improvement of relevant technical standards, rules and regulations for the achievement of this purpose, and coordinating with relevant authorities to promote the building of a sponge city.

IX. It is responsible for the construction and operation management of water works in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for organizing the operation of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in Beijing section and its supporting projects, as well as the construction and operation management of subsequent projects; for organizing and coordinating the land requisition and residents relocation of water conservancy projects; for the supervision and administration of the water conservancy construction market, and organizing the implementation of the supervision of water conservancy construction; and for organizing and carrying out the construction safety and quality supervision of water conservancy projects.

X. It takes care of the work of administration, protection and comprehensive utilization of the water conservancy facilities, water areas and their shorelines in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for organizing and guiding the construction of water conservancy infrastructure network; for guiding the governance and protection of rivers and lakes; and for guiding the ecological protection and restoration of river and lake water, the management of ecological water flow and volume of rivers and lakes, and the connection of river and lake water systems.

XI. It is responsible for the water and soil conservation and protection and restoration of water ecology in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for drafting the plans for water and soil conservation and supervising the implementation thereof, organizing the comprehensive prevention, control, monitoring and forecasting of water and soil erosion, and issuing announcements on a regular basis; for the supervision and administration of soil and water conservation in construction projects, and organizing the implementation of key water and soil conservation construction projects and water ecological protection and restoration projects; and for undertaking the protection and administration of wetlands within its scope of administration such as reservoirs, lakes, rivers, etc. in accordance with the law.

XII. It is responsible for the river chief system in Beijing. Particularly, it is responsible for proposing policy recommendations and work tasks to promote implementation of the river chief system, and organizing and carrying out supervision and assessment.

XIII. It is responsible for the implementation of ongoing aid to residents relocated to make way for the construction of reservoirs. Particularly, it is responsible for proposing and supervising the implementation of relevant policies concerning relocation of residents due to water conservancy projects, organizing the implementation of planning, acceptance, supervision and evaluation systems for resettlement of residents due to water conservancy projects; and for coordinating and promoting regional cooperation, counterpart support and collaboration on water-related affairs.

XIV. It is responsible for the investigation and handling of major water-related illegal events, coordination and arbitration of water disputes across different districts, and guiding the water administration supervision and law enforcement on water administration.

XV. It is responsible for guaranteeing the safety in the production of the water industry and for supervising the safety of the water works in Beijing in accordance with the laws and regulations.

XVI. It is responsible for the setup of science & technology and information systems on water affairs. Particularly, it is responsible for developing technical standards, regulations and specifications for the water industry and supervising the implementation thereof; for organizing the research and development of major water science and technology projects and the building of water information projects, and guiding the popularization and application of scientific and technological achievements; and for organizing and carrying out international cooperation and exchanges on water-related researches.

XVII. It is responsible for implementing the relevant requirements specified in the plans for comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation, and organizing the preparation of plans and protection standards for flood and drought prevention and control and guiding the implementation thereof; for undertaking monitoring and early warning of water regime and drought regime; for organizing the development of flood prevention and drought relief dispatching and emergency water volume dispatching plans, submitting them for approval according to procedures, and organizing the implementation thereof; and for undertaking the technical support work for flood prevention and urban inland inundation emergency rescue.

XVIII. It is responsible for completing other tasks assigned by the municipal Party committee and the municipal government.

XIX. Transformation of functions. The Beijing Water Authority shall effectively strengthen the rational utilization, optimized allocation and conservation of water resources; insist on giving priority to water conservation, uphold the principle of basing city, land, population and production on water resources, shift the effort from increasing supply to managing demand, strictly control the total water consumption and improve water use efficiency; stick to giving priority to protection, strengthen the management and protection of water resources, water areas and water conservancy projects, and maintain the health and beauty of rivers and lakes; adhere to systematic treatment, strengthen the treatment of the water environment of the rivers and lakes and restoration of water ecology in Beijing, implement the requirements of urban repair and ecological restoration, improve the urban and rural water supply and drainage service guarantee system, and enhance the building of the sponge city; and insist on overall planning, to ensure the rational needs for use of water and sustainable utilization of water resources, and provide water security guarantee for the economic and social development.

XX. Division of relevant responsibilities.

1. Division of responsibilities with Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau.

A. Beijing Water Authority shall be responsible for formulating the plan for water resources conservation; for guiding and supervising the protection of drinking water sources and protection of water ecology and environment according to law; for organizing and carrying out the protection of underground water resources, prevention and treatment of water and soil loss and restoration of water ecology; for organizing the implementation of monitoring of underground water; for organizing the construction of urban and rural sewage treatment and reclaimed water facilities, promoting the construction of urban rainwater and sewage diversion projects, and improving the sewage collection system; for strengthening the supervision, administration and performance evaluation of the operation of urban drainage and sewage treatment facilities, as well as the supervision and management of the discharge of sewage from urban drainage facilities according to the law; and for making overall planning for the ecological flow of rivers and lakes.

B. The municipal ecology and environment bureau shall strengthen the unified supervision and administration of water pollution prevention and control, and enhance its responsibility of supervising and inspecting the water quality of effluent from urban sewage treatment facilities and the entities that directly discharge waste water to surface water bodies. It shall be responsible for delimiting water function zones, formulating the administration system for water pollution prevention and control, organizing the implementation thereof; for the supervision and administration of the ecological and environmental protection of drinking water sources; for the supervision and administration of sewage outlets; for supervising and preventing groundwater pollution; and for planning and coordinating the protection of water environment in the basin, and taking the lead in organizing and coordinating the investigation and handling of major water pollution accidents and water ecology destruction events.

C. The two authorities shall establish and improve the coordination mechanism for water pollution prevention and control, to strengthen the integration of their work and form a supervision synergy.

2. Division of responsibilities with Beijing Emergency Management Bureau.

A. Beijing Water Authority shall be responsible for implementing the relevant requirements of the plans for comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation, and organizing the preparation of plans and protection standards for flood and drought prevention and control and guiding the implementation thereof; for undertaking monitoring and early warning of water regime and drought regime; for organizing the development of flood prevention and drought relief dispatching and emergency water volume dispatching plans, submitting them for approval according to procedures, and organizing the implementation thereof; and for undertaking the technical supportive work for flood prevention and urban inland inundation emergency rescue.

B. Beijing Emergency Management Bureau shall be responsible for organizing the preparation of the overall emergency plan and special plans for safety in production and natural disasters, comprehensively coordinating of the integration of emergency plans, and organizing and carrying out the drills of the plans; for organizing the formulation of comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation plans, guiding and coordinating the work related to flood and drought prevention and control across different authorities; and for establishing a unified emergency administration and information platform in conjunction with Beijing Water Authority and other relevant authorities, setting up the monitoring and early warning and disaster reporting systems, improving the natural disaster information resources acquisition and sharing mechanism, and releasing information on disasters in a unified way according to the law. 

C. The two authorities shall establish and improve emergency rescue, information sharing, monitoring and early warning mechanisms for natural disaster prevention and rescue, to strengthen the coordination and integration of their work and form a synergy for prevention and remediation.