Cold shower of water price rises is hot topic of debate

The interest was so great that the Beijing government's webcast of the hearing crashed several times in the course of its three and a half hours.

The issue is such a big one for the mainland that the capital is just one of more than 20 cities forced to confront it: water, and how much to charge for it.

Amid worsening shortages, but widespread scepticism, 24 delegates yesterday debated a municipal government proposal to raise water prices by 24 per cent. All but two agreed that a price rise seemed necessary to encourage conservation, but many were disappointed they were not given other options such as rationing, which they believed would be a better and a fairer solution.

'I don't think it's responsible for the government to pin its hopes on price hikes all the time to solve water shortages, which are also partly attributed to poor management,' Zhu Yufeng , a delegate who lives in Haidian district, said.

Beijing is one of more than 20 mainland cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin , which have raised or are proposing to raise water tariffs this year in the face of public resistance. Earlier this month it proposed raising water prices for domestic users, which are already among the highest on the mainland, by 90 fen (HK$1.02) per cubic metre from the current 3.70 yuan.

The rise, the first since 2004, is mainly to cover the soaring costs of water treatment and schemes to divert water to Beijing.