Water Law of the People's Republic of China (2016Amendment)

Water Law of the People's Republic of China (2016Amendment) Water Law of the People's Republic of China (Adopted at the 24th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on January 21, 1988; amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending Some Laws at the 10th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on August 27, 2009, and amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending Six Laws including the Energy Conservation Law of the People's Republic of China at the 21st Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on July 2, 2016) Contents Chapter I General Rules Chapter II Planning of Water Resources Chapter III Development and Utilization of Water Resources Chapter IV Protection of Water Resources, Water Areas and Water Projects Chapter V Allocation and Economic Use of Water Resources Chapter VI Settlement of Disputes over Water and Supervision and Inspection of Law Enforcement Chapter VII Legal Responsibilities Chapter VIII Supplementary Rules Chapter I General Rules Article 1 This Law is formulated for the rational development, utilization, preservation, and protection of water, for the prevention and control of water disasters, and for the sustainable utilization of water resources in order to meet the needs of national economic and social development. Article 2 This Law must be observed in the development, utilization, preservation, protection, and management of water resources and in the prevention and control of water disasters within the territory of the People's Republic of China. The "water resources" referred to in this Law include surface water and groundwater. Article 3 Water resources shall be owned by the state. The State Council shall exercise ownership of water resources on behalf of the state. Water in the ponds of rural collective economic organizations and in the reservoirs constructed and managed by rural collective economic organizations shall be used by those organizations. Article 4 The development, utilization, preservation, and protection of water resources and the prevention and control of water disasters shall be carried out through comprehensive planning, with all factors taken into consideration. The planning shall seek both a temporary solution and a permanent cure, with emphasis on multipurpose use and achieving maximum benefits to take advantage of the multiple functions of water resources and harmonize water use in production and the environment. Article 5 The people's governments at and above the county level shall strengthen the construction of infrastructures for water conservation that shall be included in plans for national economic and social development. Article 6 The state shall encourage entities and individuals to develop and utilize water resources according to law, and to protect their legal rights and interests. The entities and individuals developing and utilizing water resources shall bear an obligation to protect water resources according to law. Article 7 The state shall apply the systems of water licensing and paid use of water resources according to law, excepting collective economic organizations and their members' use of the water in the ponds and reservoirs owned by those organizations. The department of water administration under the State Council shall be responsible for organizing the water license system implementation as well as the nationwide paid use of water resource system. Article 8 The state shall require strict economy in the use of water, vigorously promote measures for water saving, spread new technology and techniques to conserve water, develop the water-conservation industry and agriculture and service industry, and establish a water-conservation society. The people's governments at various levels shall take measures to improve the management of water preservation, establish the development and distribution of water-conservation technology, and foster and develop water-preservation industries. Entities and individuals shall bear an obligation to save water. Article 9 The state shall protect water resources and adopt effective measures to preserve vegetation, plant trees, grow grass, conserve water sources, prevent and control soil erosion and water pollution, and improve the ecological environment. Article 10 The state shall encourage and support the research, distribution, and application of advanced technology for the development, utilization, preservation, protection, and management of water resources and the prevention and control of water disasters. Article 11 The people's governments shall award the entities and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in the development, utilization, preservation, protection and management of water resources and in the prevention and control of water disasters, etc. Article 12 The state shall, with respect to water resources, adopt a system that organizes the administration by watersheds as well as by administrative areas. The department of water administration under the State Council shall be in charge of the unified administration and supervision of water resources of the nation. The watershed authorities, set up by the department of water administration under the State Council, at the important rivers and lakes (as determined by the state) (hereinafter referred to as the watershed authorities) shall, within their respective jurisdictions, exercise the water resource administration and supervision provided for by laws and regulations and authorized by the department of water administration under the State Council. The departments of water administration in the local people's governments at and above the county level shall, according to the prescribed limit of authorities, be in charge of the unified administration and supervision of water resources within their respective administrative areas. Article 13 The relevant departments under the State Council shall be in charge of the relevant work for the development, utilization, preservation and protection of water resources. The relevant departments of the local people's governments at and above the county level shall, according to the division of duties, be in charge of the relevant work to develop, utilize, preserve, and protect water resources. Chapter II Planning of Water Resources Article 14 The state shall formulate the strategic plan for water resources of the whole country. The development, utilization, preservation and protection of water resources, and the prevention and control of water disasters, shall be planned in a unified way on the basis of watersheds or regions. Plans are divided into watershed plans and region plans. Watershed plans include comprehensive watershed plans and special watershed plans; region plans include comprehensive region plans and special region plans. The "comprehensive plans," as used in the preceding paragraph, shall refer to the overall arrangements, formulated according to the needs of economic and social development and the present situation of the development and utilization of water resources, for the development, utilization, preservation and protection of water resources, as well as for the prevention and control of water disasters. The "special plans," as used in the preceding paragraph, shall refer to plans for prevention of floods, the control of water-logging, irrigation, navigation, water supply, hydro-electric power generation, bamboo or log rafting, fishery, water resource protection, water and soil conservation, prevention and control of sand disasters, and water preservation, etc. Article 15 The region plan within a watershed shall be subject to the watershed plan, and the special plan shall be subject to the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive watershed plan and comprehensive region plan, as well as the special plan closely related to land utilization, shall be coordinated with the plan for national economic and social development, the overall plan for land utilization, the overall urban plan, and the plan for environment protection, and shall take account of the needs of the areas and industries. Article 16 In order to draw up a plan, a comprehensive scientific survey and an investigation and assessment of water resources must be undertaken by the department of water administration of the people' s government at or above the county level jointly with the relevant department at the corresponding level. The people's government at or above the county level shall improve the construction of the information system on hydrologic and water resources. The department of water administration of the people's governments at or above the county level and the watershed authorities shall strengthen the dynamic monitoring of water resources. The basic hydrologic materials shall be publicized pursuant to the relevant provisions of the state. Article 17 The comprehensive watershed plans for important rivers and lakes determined by the state shall be formulated by the department of water administration under the State Council This will be in conjunction with the relevant departments under the State Council and the people's governments of the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and shall be submitted to the State Council for approval. The comprehensive watershed plans and comprehensive region plans for other rivers and lakes running across provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be formulated by the relevant watershed authorities in conjunction with the departments of water administration and the relevant departments of the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government where the rivers and lakes are located. After the relevant people's governments examine those plans and give their opinions, the plans shall be submitted to the department of water administration under the State Council for examination, which shall, after seeking opinions from the relevant departments under the State Council, submit the plans to the State Council or the department authorized thereby for approval. The comprehensive watershed plans and comprehensive region plans for rivers and lakes other than those described in the preceding paragraph shall be formulated by the departments of water administration of the local people's governments at and above the county level, jointly with the relevant departments at the corresponding level and the relevant local people's governments, and shall be submitted to the corresponding people's governments or the departments authorized thereby for approval, as well as to the departments of water administration at the next higher level for record. The special plans shall be formulated by the relevant departments of the people's governments at and above the county level, and shall be submitted to the corresponding people's governments for approval after those departments seek opinions from other relevant departments at the corresponding level. Among these special plans, the formulation and approval of plans on the prevention of floods, and water and soil conservation plans, shall be carried out according to the relevant provisions of the Law on Prevention of Floods and the Law on Water and Soil Conservation . Article 18 A plan shall be strictly carried out once it has been approved. When modifying the approved plan is necessary, the modification must be approved by the original approving department in accordance with the procedures for plan formulation. Article 19 Construction of a water project must be in conformity with the comprehensive watershed plan. The construction entity shall not commence the construction of a water project constructed on an important river or lake determined by the state or a river or lake across provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government if it fails to obtain the written consent to the plan in compliance with the requirements of the comprehensive watershed plan as signed by the relevant watershed administrative authority. The construction entity shall not commence the construction of a water project on any other river or lake if it fails to obtain the written consent to the plan in compliance with the requirements of the comprehensive watershed plan as signed by the water administrative department of the local people's government at or above the county level according to its management power. If the construction of a water project involves flood control, it shall be governed by the relevant provisions of the Law on Flood Control ; and if any other region or industry is involved, the construction entity shall solicit the opinions of the relevant region and department in advance. Chapter III Development and Utilization of Water Resources Article 20 The development and utilization of water resources shall follow the principle of promoting benefits while eliminating disasters. It shall take into consideration the interests of upstream and downstream areas, of the left and right banks, and of all regions concerned to take advantage of the comprehensive benefits of water resources; it shall also conform to the overall arrangement for the prevention of flood. Article 21 The development and utilization of water resources shall first satisfy the needs of the urban and rural inhabitants in their domestic use of water and give overall consideration to the agricultural, industrial and ecological need for water as well as to the needs of navigation. In dry and semi-dry areas, the development and utilization of water resources shall take into full consideration the ecological environment's need for water. Article 22 In case of inter-watershed diversion, an overall plan and a scientific justification must be conducted and consideration given to the demand for water in the watershed which supplies the water and in the watershed which receives it, while avoiding damages to the ecological environment. Article 23 The local people's governments at various levels shall, in light of the actual situations of water resources of their respective regions, rationally organize the development and comprehensive utilization of water resources according to the principles of unified management and development of surface water and groundwater. It will open up the source while regulating the flow with priority given to regulation as well as disposition and reuse of the sewage. The formulation of national economic and social development plans and overall urban plans, and the layout of major construction projects, shall be compatible with the conditions of the local water resources and the requirements of flood prevention, and scientific justification shall be undertaken. In areas where the water sources are insufficient, the scale of the urban area and the development of industrial, agricultural and service undertakings that use a large amount of water shall be restricted. Article 24 In areas short of water resources, the state shall encourage the collection, development and utilization of rain and minor salt water and the utilization and desalination of seawater. Article 25 The local people's governments at various levels shall improve the leadership over the work of irrigation, draining saturated fields, and water and soil conservation, thus promoting the development of agriculture production. In areas where brackishness or saturation is likely to take place, the governments shall take actions to control and lower the level of groundwater. Where a rural collective economic organization or its members invest to construct water project facilities on the collective land owned by the organization or land contracted by a member, the water project facilities and the water stored in them shall be managed and rationally used according to the principle that "the party that invests in and constructs the facilities shall be the one to manage and benefit from such facilities." The construction of a water reservoir by a rural collective economic organization shall be subject to the approval of the department of water ......