Liquid Assets II - Industrial Relocation in Guangdong Province: Avoid Repeating Mistakes
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Industrial Relocation Threatens the Security of Drinking Water from the Dongjiang
4. Industrial relocation threatens the security of drinking water from the Dongjiang 4.1 The importance of Heyuan The Dongjiang River Basin takes up only 6.3% of Guandong Province's total land area, but it shoulders the burden of providing industrial and domestic water supplies to nearly half of Guangdong's population (which produces 70% of the province’s total GDP) 62, the residents of Heyuan, Huidong, Dongguan, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, as well as exporting water to Hong Kong. Heyuan is located in the mid-upper reaches of the Dongjiang River and the upper reaches of the Hanjiang and Beijiang rivers. The city's total land area is 15,800 square kilometers, of which the Dongjiang basin takes up 81.6%, the Hanjiang basin takes up 10.4%, and the Beijiang basin takes up 2%. Many waterways flow through Heyuan, including 47 with drainage areas of 100 square kilometers or greater. Of these 47 waterways, 39 are part of the Dongjiang basin, 6 belong to Hanjiang, and 2 belong to Beijiang.63 Heyuan is also home to the largest reservoir in southern China, the Xinfeng River Reservoir, as well as another large reservoir, the Fengshuba Reservoir. As one can see, the city’s name, “river source”, is very appropriate. There are 1,257 water extraction points in the Dongjiang River Basin, and almost half (622) of them are located in Heyuan. 64 Heyuan is accurately described as Dongjiang's faucet. The water that flows from Heyuan is intricately intertwined with the security of the entire river basin's ecosystem and human population. The Dongjiang's water has long been placed on a pedestal, regarded as “water of politics, water of life, water of the economy”. It has received attention from all levels of government. When it comes to the protection of water resources, Heyuan's position is of the utmost importance. However, in this powerful tide of industrial relocation, Heyuan has also been designated as a focal point, receiving enormous support from the provincial government. Currently, Heyuan possesses 5 large province-level IR-Parks. The scale of these IR-Parks and the amount of government assistance they have received go far beyond those of the IR-Parks of any other target region.
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