The curse of 'white gold'

Hongkongers never have to think about water. It is always available and restrictions are few. But to the people of Heyuan, in northeast Guangdong province, the abundant water in Evergreen (Wanlu) Lake is a treasure - their white gold, they call it - and they are determined to protect it. Evergreen Lake is the picturesque name for the Xinfengjiang Reservoir, the largest artificial reservoir in southern China and a key source for the Dongjiang , or East River, which supplies 70 per cent of Hong Kong's water. Built in 1958, the Xinfengjiang Reservoir, which covers an area of 370 sq km and contains 14 billion cubic metres of water, is extremely important politically; it is the main water source for 20 million people downstream, not just in Hong Kong but in Shenzhen and Dongguan , as well. 'We are people of the Evergreen Lake,' Ceng Huihua, who has lived in Heyuan her whole life, said proudly. 'It is not easy for us to protect the lake, [but] it is our treasure.' Ms Ceng, manager of the Guangdong Heyuan Evergreen Lake travel service, believes the lake is vital to the city's survival: 'Without the lake, there is not going to be economic development.' Nodding in agreement is Zhang Shujuan, who has spent the past 20 years there. She remembers her parents bringing relatives to visit the lake. 'It is beautiful. We are so proud of that,' Ms Zhang said. She is especially excited about the Hundred Metre Spray, an artificial geyser which reaches a height of 169 metres. 'The water spray is so powerful, I always asked my grandpa to bring me there,' she said. The river is now named the 'New Dongjiang Golden Water Channel'. It is a strange paradox that although it is well off in terms of top-quality water - a scarce resource in other parts of the country - Heyuan is one of the poorest cities in Guangdong. Indeed, it could be argued that its water has kept it poor. Heyuan may be 90 per cent situated in the Dongjiang water basin and the fourth-largest city in Guangdong, but it remains a second-class centre. A secondary school teacher in Heyuan said: 'When I studied [elsewhere] in Guangdong, none of my classmates knew where the city was. It is a second-class city; only those unwanted industries will come. Graduates like us will try for opportunities outside rather than stay here.' The mountainous landscape might be one reason for Heyuan's lack of prosperity, compared with other centres in Guangdong, but the determining factor is its fate as a source of quality water. Over the years, the quality of water in Xinfengjiang Reservoir has remained at the national standard Class-1 level, the best available in terms of public consumption because it can be consumed directly after basic disinfectant treatment. Before Xinfengjiang was built, the site was home to 120,000 people, and a fertile agricultural region. Those residents were moved to make way for the reservoir, and one of them, Gu Minsheng, now heads the Tourism Administration of Heyuan. He said the reservoir had kept the region poor, by keeping factories away, which meant that Heyuan missed out on the industrial boom that had driven economic growth in Guangdong's other cities. 'We have not had industries during the past 10 to 20 years for the sake of protecting the water,' Mr Gu said. 'We have to make sure the water is not polluted by any industry. A cement factory which opened 20 years ago was closed finally in 2000 because we can't afford any industry that might bring pollution. 'We even had debts of 50 million yuan (HK$57.1 million), owing to the closure of the cement factory, because we had to pay out [compensation to] the employees who had lost their jobs.' Even with the support of the provincial government, the Heyuan city authority still owes about 20 million yuan. The Dongjiang is 562km in length, 279km of which is within Heyuan. 'We understand that millions of people in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Dongguan are consuming the water; we have to protect it at any cost,' he said. But this city of 3.4 million people needs to survive. Officials like Mr Gu realised they had to make commercial use of the resource. In the mid-1990s, they started experimenting with ecotourism. Ms Ceng was one of these 'environment tour guides' 12 years ago, and she said the job was part guide and part rubbish collector. 'We had to carry a little yellow bag while walking around the lake with tourists. This bag was to remind everyone to take care of their trash. It was embarrassing,' she said. She remembers it was even more embarrassing when she had to carry the yellow bag to cities like Guangzhou to introduce people there to the benefits of ecotourism. Embarrassing it may have been, but Ms Ceng knows they have no choice other than to protect their environment, and the good thing is that the message seems to be getting through. It is still not common practice on the mainland for people to throw rubbish in bins, but wander around the lake and you won't see a single plastic bag. Probably the single biggest bar to tourism is the fact that no hotel or restaurant business is allowed in or around the lake. 'We do not allow any hotel to be built in the lake district because it might bring pollution,' said Mr Gu, who admitted that it was something of a sacrifice because hotels and restaurants were major sources of tourist revenue. Another difficulty is the livelihoods of 100,000 people living on the islands within the lake area. 'Fish farming and forestry used to be major sources of income, but these activities are no longer permitted. 'Also, as only environmentally friendly boats are allowed on the lake, these residents have problems with transportation, education and medical services,' Mr Gu said. Rather than exploit the lake's tourist potential, some senior provincial officials want to go the other way and restrict public access completely. 'This is impossible to do so as the reservoir is so big. Are we going to use [barbed wire] to block the whole lake; ask the People's Liberation Army to come and help with the blocking?' Mr Gu asked. 'It is not possible because it would mean the lake is not sustainable. We have to survive.' Heyuan's efforts at sustainability have won praise from at least one of their consultants, Lister Cheung Lai-ping, chief executive of the Conservancy Association, a green group in Hong Kong. 'Nowadays, there are many cities in mainland China talking about ecotourism, but how many places can keep away pollution and make it sustainable like what we have at Xinfengjiang Reservoir at Heyuan?' she asked. There were more beautiful places than the reservoir on the mainland, Ms Cheung said, but 'this city has expended lots of effort in keeping it in its present state and everyone is spending their energy wholeheartedly on protecting the water. 'I think we from Hong Kong should appreciate this effort.' Clean water does come at a price, and Heyuan has been slow to benefit. But, since 2001, the city has at least been able to get a subsidy from the provincial government for maintaining the resource. 'Hong Kong pays Guangdong province HK$2 billion [a year] for Dongjiang water and now we get HK$30 million out of that,' said Mr Gu. The returns for their effort may soon become even more significant. Sources of clean water are becoming scarcer on the mainland for a variety of reasons, including heavy industrial development and the effects of climate change. Mainland officials admit that millions of people in northern and western China are short of water. And much of the precious resource that is available is heavily polluted. Nongfu Spring, one of the popular brands of mineral water in China, is now getting its water directly from Xinfengjiang instead of from its original site at Thousand Islands (Qiandao) Lake in Zhejiang , because of the better quality. Clean water is starting to become 'white gold'. Mr Gu said Heyuan was in discussions with Dongguan authorities about the feasibility of transporting water directly from the reservoir to that city. 'The water here is Class I, but after flowing there, it becomes Class III because of the pollution on the way.' Mr Gu and his colleagues believe that selling the water by taking it straight to different cities is the way forward. The preliminary proposal with Dongguan sets a price of 50 yuan per cubic metre. The construction of a direct pipeline will take time and cost about 14 billion yuan. However, it might be a rocky path. 'We have taken so many years to fight [for] water quality and we are still doing that. We have been paying a big price. Selling water is a dream. It might be realised some day, but the road is going to be long,' Mr Gu said.