State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment , Tsinghua University , Beijing , China 100084.
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research , Beijing , China 100038.
Acc Chem Res. 2019 Apr 16;52(4):867-875. doi: 10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00605. Epub 2019 Mar 13.
Access to safe drinking water is among the 17 United Nations sustainable development goals. As the largest developing country, China has confronted large challenges to providing safe and sufficient drinking water to its population of 1.4 billion under the conditions of limited water sources and ubiquitous water contamination. This Account outlines these challenges as well as the practical solutions implemented by Chinese water professionals. We first provide a general introduction of the water supply in China. Next, we describe the main challenges of water source shortages and source water contamination. The practical solutions developed by Chinese water professionals are the core part of this Account, to which we have devoted ourselves to and contributed in some issues and cases. The water supply in China is a binary system that reflects the gap between urban and rural communities. Both urban and rural water supplies have been subject to water source shortages and contamination. Water shortages are mainly solved by long-distance water transportation projects. Urban water utilities generally pay attention to organic matter, ammonia, algae, and chemical spills in source water while also focusing on micro-organisms and disinfection byproducts in tap water. Micro-organisms are a widespread concern for rural water supplies, whereas arsenic, fluoride, and ammonia are an endemic concern in some rural communities. Investment in updating of treatment processes significantly benefits urban water supplies, and advanced treatment of ozonation and biologically activated carbon processes are now commonly used to ensure that strict drinking water quality standards are met. However, this is not the case for rural water supplies, where expensive advanced treatment is not affordable. Thus, improving rural water supplies requires approaches such as searching for sources with better water quality, using automated ultrafiltration instruments, or connecting to urban water supply distribution systems. For rural areas with high concentrations of arsenic or fluoride in source water, specific adsorbents are a practical way to help farmers. Similar challenges will be encountered elsewhere in the world; therefore, the practical solutions applied in China will be useful to other countries in different stages of development.
安全饮用水是联合国 17 项可持续发展目标之一。作为最大的发展中国家，中国在水资源有限和水源普遍受到污染的条件下，面临着为 14 亿人口提供安全和充足饮用水的巨大挑战。本账户概述了这些挑战以及中国水专业人员实施的实际解决方案。我们首先对中国的供水情况进行了总体介绍。接下来，我们描述了水资源短缺和水源污染的主要挑战。中国水专业人员开发的实用解决方案是本账户的核心部分，我们在一些问题和案例中致力于并做出了贡献。中国的供水是一个反映城乡社区差距的二元系统。城乡供水都受到水资源短缺和污染的影响。水资源短缺主要通过长途调水工程来解决。城市供水企业普遍关注水源中的有机物、氨、藻类和化学泄漏，同时也关注自来水中的微生物和消毒副产物。微生物是农村供水普遍关注的问题，而砷、氟化物和氨则是一些农村社区的地方病。更新处理工艺的投资大大有利于城市供水，现在普遍采用臭氧氧化和生物活性炭工艺的先进处理方法，以确保严格的饮用水质量标准得以满足。然而，农村供水并非如此，昂贵的先进处理方法是负担不起的。因此，改善农村供水需要寻找水质更好的水源、使用自动化超滤仪器或连接到城市供水分配系统等方法。对于水源中砷或氟化物浓度较高的农村地区，特定的吸附剂是帮助农民的一种实用方法。世界其他地方也将面临类似的挑战；因此，中国应用的实际解决方案将对处于不同发展阶段的其他国家有用。
