China is still a developing nation. That may be hard to tell when roaming the streets of Beijing, Shanghai, or any other developing city center in China. The fact is hundreds of millions of Chinese are in the countryside. Even a cursory look into the rural situation will be more than enough to define it as developing.
The water issues we all hear about in China are usually the big ones, the industrial scale, the major rivers. Those are serious, no doubt, but we always think downstream. We always think of the immediate issue and the immediate effects. We need to think upstream as well.
Long term strategic thought needs to be spent on developing the water supply in China's countryside. The needs are for low-cost on-site treatment. Simple and elegant solutions from creative thinkers will go much further than technological wonders which are not sustainable within a rural context.
This is the last meeting day of the 2006 World Water Conference in Beijing, where over 4000 experts have gathered to discuss the challenges and solutions to the world's water problems, but the vast majority of those are thinking big, thinking money, thinking self-gain. The Chinese Ministry of Construction has hosted this event, and more than likely, hopes to identify those companies and organizations that can help them solve the water problems of rural China.
The organizations and companies interested in such a venture will find a need for local expertise to help avoid the mine field of working in China. Many organizations with good intentions have set up in China to help the people with these small-scale development projects, and end up walking away at huge losses, frustrated with the progress, bitter toward working in China again, and ultimately, not able to provide the service for which they came to China. These pitfalls can be avoided.
