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Urban Water Governance in Europe and in China: Key Challenges, Benchmarks and Approaches

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Urban Water Management for Future Cities

Part of the book series: Future City ((FUCI,volume 12))

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Abstract

Urban water systems will not be developed and managed in a sustainable way unless this is ensured through adequate regulation, organization, and finance, or in short “governance.” The following sections of this volume aim to explore the different government arrangements in China and in Germany with a view to identifying options for improvement and governance innovation in and beyond these countries. The present chapter is aimed at providing some groundwork for this comparative assessment including an overview of the major factual challenges and differences of urban water governance in China and Germany, a conceptual frame for comparative assessment, a synthesis of the key benchmarks of “good” and “sustainable” governance, and a brief outlook to the highlights presented in the following contributions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See CGTN report of 07 October 2017: https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d49544e3459444e/share_p.html.

  2. 2.

    Regional Water Policy in China.

  3. 3.

    Regional Water Policy in China .

  4. 4.

    Regional Water Policy in China.

  5. 5.

    China Environmental Status Bulletin 2016 (32.3).

  6. 6.

    Regional Water Policy in China .

  7. 7.

    Regional Water Policy in China.

  8. 8.

    Umweltrechtsbehelfsgesetz of December 2006, last Amendement 23. August 2017, BGBl. I 3290.

  9. 9.

    See Art. 14 of the Chinese Water Law and § 82 and 83 of the German Federal Water Act as well as Article 11 and 13 of the EU Water Framework Directive.

  10. 10.

    Through Resolution 64/292 of 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights; see http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/human_right_to_water.shtml.

  11. 11.

    Standard GB 5749-2006.

  12. 12.

    Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC of November 1998, latest amendment October 2015.

  13. 13.

    Trinkwasserverordnung of 21 May 2001, BGBl. I, S. 99.

  14. 14.

    China: Standard GB 8978-1996; Germany: Federal Waste Water Ordinance of 1997, (last amendment March 2017).

  15. 15.

    Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks of 26 November 2007.

  16. 16.

    Regional Water Policy in China .

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Environmental & Planning Law, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Moritz Reese

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  1. Moritz Reese
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Correspondence to Moritz Reese .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Waste Management, Leibniz University Hannover, Hanover, Germany

    Stephan Köster

  2. Department of Environmental and Planning Law, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany

    Moritz Reese

  3. Dep of Env Science and Engr, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Jian'e Zuo

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Reese, M. (2019). Urban Water Governance in Europe and in China: Key Challenges, Benchmarks and Approaches. In: Köster, S., Reese, M., Zuo, J. (eds) Urban Water Management for Future Cities. Future City, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01488-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01488-9_12

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