Regulation on the Administration of the Taihu Lake Basin

Regulation on the Administration of the Taihu Lake Basin Order of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (No. 604) The Regulation on the Administration of the Taihu Lake Basin, as adopted at the 169th executive meeting of the State Council on August 24, 2011, is hereby issued and shall come into force on November 1, 2011. Premier: Wen Jiabao September 7, 2011 Regulation on the Administration of the Taihu Lake Basin Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 This Regulation is formulated in order to strengthen water resources protection and water pollution prevention and control in the Taihu Lake Basin, guarantee flood control and drought relief and the safety of water use for daily life, production and ecology, and improve the ecological environment of the Taihu Lake Basin. Article 2 For the purpose of this Regulation, “Taihu Lake Basin” means the region to the south of the Yangtze River, to the north of Qiantang River, and to the east of watershed of Tianmu Mountain and Maoshan Mountain Basin in Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province and Shanghai Municipality (hereinafter referred to as “two provinces and one municipality”). Article 3 The administration of Taihu Lake Basin shall follow the principles of overall planning, overall consideration, protection first, promoting the beneficial and eliminating the harmful, comprehensive treatment and scientific development. Article 4 The system for the administration of Taihu Lake Basin shall integrate the administration of the Basin and administrative regions. The state shall establish a sound administration and coordination mechanism for the Taihu Lake Basin so as to make overall planning and coordinate major matters in the administration of Taihu Lake Basin. Article 5 The water administrative department, administrative department for environmental protection and other departments of the State Council shall be responsible for the work relating to the administration of the Taihu Lake Basin in accordance with laws, administrative regulations and the functions assigned by the State Council. Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies established by the water administrative department of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as “Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies”) shall, within the scope of their jurisdiction, perform supervision and administration duties prescribed by laws and administrative regulations and vested by the water administrative department of the State Council. Relevant departments of local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall, in accordance with laws and regulations, be responsible for the administration of the Taihu Lake Basin within their respective administrative regions. Article 6 The state shall implement a target responsibility system and an examination and evaluation system for local people's governments in water resources protection and water pollution prevention and control in the Taihu Lake Basin. Local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall include water resources protection, water pollution prevention and control, flood prevention and drought relief, water area and waterfront protection, and safety of water for daily use, protection and ecology in the national economic and social development plan, adjust economic structure, optimize the industrial layout, and strictly restrict high water consumption and high pollution construction projects. Chapter II Drinking Water Safety Article 7 Local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall reasonably determine drinking water sources, and in accordance with the provisions of the Water Law of the People's Republic of China and the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China, circumscribe drinking water source reserves, and guarantee drinking water supply and water quality safety. Article 8 Pollutant discharge outlets, poisonous and hazardous substance warehouses and garbage dumps shall not be set up in the drinking water source reserves of the Taihu Lake Basin; and local county people's governments shall order the demolition or closure of those that have been set up. Article 9 County people's governments in the Taihu Lake Basin shall establish rules on the daily patrol inspection of drinking water source reserves, and set up automatic water quality and water quantity monitoring facilities in Grade I drinking water source reserves. Article 10 Local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall, under the principles of water source complementation and scientific dispatch, make reasonable plans and build backup water sources for emergency response and joint water supply projects across administrative regions. Based on normal water consumption within the scope of planned water supply, backup water sources for emergency response shall be able to supply water for not less than seven days. Water supply administrative departments of local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall, in accordance with the requirements of national standards on drinking water, work out plans on the technical upgrade of water supply facilities, and submit the plans to the people's governments at the same level for approval and implementation. Article 11 Local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall organize water administrative departments, environmental protection administrative departments, housing and urban-rural development departments, etc. to prepare plans on emergency response to water supply safety incidents within their respective administrative regions. Relevant departments shall prepare implementation plans based on the plans on emergency response to water supply safety incidents within their respective administrative regions. Water supply entities in the Taihu Lake Basin shall, based on the plans on emergency response to water supply safety incidents within their respective administrative regions, prepare corresponding emergency response plans, and file the plans with water supply administrative departments. Article 12 The plans on emergency response to water supply safety incidents shall cover: 1. backup water sources and water supply facilities for emergency response; 2. monitoring, early warning, information reporting and handling; 3. organization and command systems and emergency response mechanisms; 4. plans on starting using backup water sources for emergency response or plans on water dispatch for emergency response; and 5. fund, material and technical guarantee measures. Article 13 The people's governments of cities and counties in the Taihu Lake Basin shall organize real-time monitoring of drinking water sources, water supply facilities and household water use points; and shall, during special periods such as blue-green algae outbreak, increase monitoring frequency and monitoring sites, and obtain information on water quality in a timely manner. Where the people's government of a city or county in the Taihu Lake Basin discovers any abnormal circumstance of water quality of drinking water sources, water supply facilities or household water use points, which may affect water supply safety, it shall immediately take prevention and control measures, and issue early warnings to the public in a timely manner. Article 14 Where any water supply safety incident occurs, the local people's government at or above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall immediately report the incident under prescribed procedures, and according to the seriousness and scope of impact of such incident, activate the plan on emergency response to water supply safety incidents based on its duties and powers, and give priority to guaranteeing drinking water for residents. Where any water supply safety incident occurs, and it is necessary to conduct emergency dispatch of water resources across river basins, or across administrative regions of provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Taihu Lake Basin administrative body shall issue dispatch orders relating to the water projects in the Taihu Lake, Taipu River, Xinmeng River and Wangyu River. Where any water supply safety incident occurs during the period of flood prevention and drought relief, and it is necessary to dispatch water resources for emergency response, the flood prevention and drought relief command institution in the Taihu Lake Basin and the flood prevention and drought relief command institution of the local people's government at or above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall issue the dispatch order. Chapter III Water Resource Protection Article 15 Water resources allocation and dispatch in the Taihu Lake Basin shall satisfy the needs of drinking water for residents in the first place, and take into consideration the requirements for water use for production, ecology and shipping, maintain the reasonable water level of Taihu Lake, promote water circulation, and enhance the water environmental capacity of the Taihu Lake Basin. In water resources allocation and dispatch in the Taihu Lake Basin the principles of uniform implementation and level-by-level responsibility shall be followed and the relationship between total amount control and water level control be coordinated. Article 16 Taihu Lake administrative bodies shall, through consultation with the water administrative departments of people's governments of the two provinces and one municipality, prepare water source dispatch plans based on the comprehensive planning on the Taihu Lake Basin, submit the plans to the water administrative department of the State Council for approval and then organize the water administrative departments of people's governments of the two provinces and one municipality for uniform implementation of such plans. Before approval of water resources dispatch plans, water resources in the Taihu Lake Basin shall be dispatched in accordance with the plan on water diversion from the Yangtze River to the Taihu Lake as approved by the water administrative department of the State Council and relevant annual dispatch plans. The major persons in charge of local people's governments, Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies and water project administrative entities shall be responsible for the implementation of water resources dispatch plans and dispatch orders. Article 17 The dispatch orders involving the Taipu gate and pump station of Taipu River, the waterfront hub of Xinmeng River, the interchange hub of the Canal, as well as Wangting hub of the Wangyu River and Changshu hub shall be issued by the Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies. For the water projects that have a significant impact on water resources allocation in the Taihu Lake Basin as prescribed by the water administrative department of the State Council, the dispatch orders shall be issued by the Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies through consultation with the water administrative departments of local people's governments of provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government. For the other water projects in the Taihu Lake Basin, the dispatch orders shall be issued by the water administrative departments of local people's governments at and above the county level based on their duties and powers. Dispatch orders shall be issued based on water resources dispatch plans, and take into comprehensive consideration real-time water regime and rain regime. Article 18 The total volume of water drawn from the Taihu Lake, Taipu River, Xinmeng River and Wangyu River shall be controlled. The water administrative departments of people's governments of the two provinces and one municipality shall, before February 1 each year, report the information on total water drawing control in the previous year and suggestions on water drawing plan in the current year to Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies. Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies shall, in accordance with total water drawing control quotas and in consideration of annual predicted incoming water volume, assign annual water drawing plans to the water administrative departments of people's governments of the two provinces and one municipality before February 25 each year. Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies shall conduct real-time monitoring of total water drawing control in the Taihu Lake, Taipu River, Xinmeng River and Wangyu River. Where the total volume of water drawn has reached or exceeded the quota for total water drawing control, no more water may be drawn for construction projects. Article 19 The water administrative department of the State Council shall, jointly with the administrative department for environmental protection and other departments of the State Council and the people's governments of the two provinces and one municipality, draft a water function zoning plan on the Taihu Lake Basin in accordance with the comprehensive planning on river basins, water resources protection planning and the requirements for economic and social development, and submit the plan to the State Council for approval. The water administrative departments of people's governments of the two provinces and one municipality shall, jointly with the administrative departments for environmental protection at the same level, draft water function zoning plans on other water areas of the Taihu Lake Basin not involved in the water function zoning plan on the Taihu Lake Basin, and after soliciting the opinions of Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies, report the opinions to the people's governments at the same level for approval and file the opinions with the water administrative department and the administrative department for environmental protection of the State Council. The adjustments to the approved water function zoning plan shall be subject to the approval of the original approval organ or the organ authorized thereby. Article 20 The planning that involves water resources development and utilization such as breeding, shipping and tourism in the Taihu Lake Basin shall comply with the approved water function zoning plan. The production and construction in the lakes and watercourses of the Taihu Lake Basin and other development and utilization activities shall comply with the requirements for the protection of water function zones; and relevant competent departments shall, before approving any production and construction in the Taihu Lake Basin or other development and utilization activities, solicit the opinions of Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies on whether such activities comply with the requirements for the protection of water function zones. Article 21 Water administrative departments of local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin and Taihu Lake Basin administrative bodies shall strengthen the supervision and inspection over the protection of water function zones, periodically publicize the information on water resources; and if an authority discovers that any water function zone fails to reach the water quality objective, it shall, in a timely manner, report it to the relevant people's government to take remedial measures, and report it to the administrative department for environmental protection. Where any control section of a major watercourse flowing into the Taihu Lake fails to reach the water quality objective, the Taihu Lake Basin administrative body shall, under the premise of not affecting flood control safety, notify the relevant local people's government to shut the gate to the Lake and organize treatment. Article 22 Local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall, based on the requirements of the comprehensive planning on Taihu Lake Basin and the overall plan for the comprehensive treatment of water environment in the Taihu Lake Basin, organize the implementation of environmental protection dredging measures, conduct ecological dredging of lakes and watercourses in the Taihu Lake Basin, and conduct harmless disposal of the cleared sludge. Article 23 Local people's governments at and above the county level in the Taihu Lake Basin shall strengthen water quota management, take effective measures, reduce water consumption, enhance water use efficiency, and encourage the use of recycled water and comprehensive use of rain water, sea water and brackish water. For the new construction, reconstruction and expansion projects which requires water drawing, water conservation measures shall be specified in the water resources evaluation report based on the requirements about the quota for industrial water use, and supporting water conservation facilities shall be built. Water conservation facilities shall be simultaneously designed, simultaneously built and simultaneously put into use with the main stru......