ALLEVIATING WATER SCARCITY IN NORTHERN CHINA : BALANCING OPTIONS AND POLICIES AMONG CHINES DECISION-MAKERS

National-scale policy in China concerning the equilibrium between supply and demand in water. Import and substitution policies or drastic arbitration against small and/or ineffective farmes are uselly disregarded at the national level. Drastic conservation policies such as sharp price increases have so far been the fate of industries and cities, with the adverse effect that the customers tend to grab water away from farmers. It then appears the Chinese government opted for the Yangze derivation so as to acheive a precarious equilibrium between domestic and international constraints.