BEIJING, Sep 21 (IPS) - Faced with water problems that many fear are beyond repair, China is looking to tap Singapore's expertise in growing and thriving on limited water resources.

The city-state is reputed for its innovation in using the modest  resources of its island area, for ingeniously recycling wastewater  and desalinating seawater. Not only has Singapore managed to cope  with a grim situation of water scarcity, but also it is now boldly  packaging its expertise and exporting it abroad.

At the 5th World Water Congress held in Beijing, earlier in  September, the Public Utilities Board, Singapore's national water  agency, courted Chinese water officials, hoping to secure a piece of  China's up and coming water market.

"Leveraging on technology, Singapore has managed to provide a sustainable supply of water," Teng Chye Khoo, from the Public  Utilities Board (PUB) told the forum. "Now we hope to be able to help  our companies export their know how to more countries and regions and  work with them to resolve local water problems".

Singapore's share in the global water market is now only one percent but the government hopes to raise that to five percent by 2015. China could become one of the biggest markets for Singaporean water companies, according to Teng.

Urbanisation and rapid industrialisation have increased demand for clean water even as China's fast development has polluted the water  table and turned many rivers black. Singapore's desalination  technology and its acclaimed use of recycled water are among the  innovations that the PUB is looking to market on a large scale.

"I think the excitement about Singapore's water expertise comes with  the realisation in Beijing that China needs to grow with the scarcity  of water," says environmentalist Ma Jun, who is the author of the  book 'China' s Water Crisis'.

In recent years, PUB has increasingly taken the role of an international consultant, promoting the island as a role model of  sustainable water management. PUB has also been identified by the  International Water Association as its partner to uphold innovation in water.

With its 'Four National Taps' strategy, consisting of tapping local  reservoirs, piping in water from Johor Bahru in Malaysia, using  recycled water (NEWater) and desalinated water, Singapore is one of  the few countries in the world that practices an integrated  management of its supply sources.

China, by contrast, has been criticised for its fractured water management where some half a dozen government agencies are squabbling  for supremacy over water resources.

The list starts with the Ministry of Water Resources, which oversees rural water resources, irrigation and flood control. Next is the  Ministry of Construction, which supervises urban water management and  the construction and operation of water supply plants.

Other powerful players include the State Development and Reform Commission, which controls the quota of foreign investment in  national water resources, the Ministry of Land and Resources, which  oversees the underground water, the Ministry of Health and the State  Environmental Protection Administration.

While Singapore has used pricing mechanisms to promote efficiency and  use of recycled water, China's water prices remain below cost, encouraging waste and offering little incentive for the development  of water supply and wastewater treatment industries. The government  fears that water price hikes might cause unrest in impoverished rural areas.

Yet, despite the glaring differences, Chinese leaders share at least one thing in common with their Singaporean counterparts -- they see  the continual rise in living standards for the population as part and  parcel of their social contract of governance.

Over the last three years, chronic water shortages and chemical spills have stirred public unrest and caused riots in various parts  of China and made the central leadership worry about social stability.

Beijing has now begun to emphasise sustainable development over growth at all costs and punish local officials responsible for water contamination. Earlier this year, the central government pledged to  pump in 125 billion U.S. dollars to improve water quality and build  sewage treatment systems.

Singaporean companies' drive to secure a foothold in China's water  market comes at a time when Beijing is actively seeking foreign  investment and expertise to satisfy these objectives. During the  water summit, Chinese officials had no qualms about disclosing how dire the country's water situation is.

"The nation faces the toughest challenge in the world over water resources, which on the whole are polluted," vice minister of  construction Qiu Baoxing told the congress.

About 20 billion tonnes of industrial and residential wastewater is released into rivers and lakes annually in China's cities, and 90  percent of the urban sections of rivers are polluted. At the end of  2005, one-third of China 's more than 662 cities had no sewage treatment plants, according to Qiu.

Yet this is seen as a huge potential for foreign investors.

"This is one of the biggest markets for Singapore and as part of our attempts to build our water industry, China will be one of the key players," Singapore's minister for environment and water resources Yaacob Ibrahim said at the opening of the island's pavilion at the  Beijing water congress.

Singapore is already exporting water technology to China.

Hyflux, a Singaporean company, which owns a reverse-osmosis technology that produces drinking water from the sea, is building a  desalination plant in the city of Tianjin, in Bohai Bay. In the western province of Ningxia, Hyflux is developing another project,  which uses a membrane-based technology to produce clean water from  treated wastewater.

But Chinese experts have warned that foreign expertise and money will  not necessarily cure China's water woes. With water prices kept low, municipal authorities have no incentive to build new facilities or  even to operate existing plants because the more waste they treat, the more money they lose.

"It is not a matter of technology," says water expert Ma. "It is not  primarily a matter of money. There is an urgent need to reform the environmental governance structure". (END/IPSAP/220906)