| Water is the strategic resource of China. The State Council of China promulgated the views on implementation of the strictest water resources management system, in which stipulates the system of integrated management of water resources and the strictest water resources management. Implementation of such views is the most pressing task ahead of us. In order to strengthen water administration management, the Chinese government adopted a series of measures and made progress, however some problems are still prominent, such as unadapted management system, lack of legislations for river basin management, river basin authority as the main body for water administration is still unclear. How to break the bottleneck in institutional settings of river basin management and build a harmonious water resources management system will be the most important and stringent work of us.The author thought that the administrative power of river basin authorities and local authorities should be divided based on the following considerations. First, integrated management should be applied for river basins. River basin authorities should focus on macro management in water administration and also be responsible for water administrative for major sections and cross-provincial sections of important rivers. Second, administration regions should be fully motivated in water administration. In terms of macro management, river basin authority should provide guidance and sectorial management to, coordinate with and overseen regional water administration departments. For those regions directly under the responsibilities of river basin authority, the river basin authority should be the main body and regional water administration department should be the supporting body.This paper, taking the Yangtze River basin as an example, studied national administrative levels theory, water related laws and regulations, water management practice and proposed the principles of dividing the administration power of river basin management and regional management in the Yangtze River basin. The division of administration power must be favorable to the protection and sustainable use of water resources, the implementation of integrated river basin management for a better efficiency, the mobilization of local authorities, the comprehensive utilization of water resources for maximum benefit, and to be conductive to establishing an authoritative and effective river management mechanism.Based on these principles, this paper holds that river basin management should focus on macro scale, while administrative regions should be responsible for specific water affairs within its jurisdictions with the guidance of river basin authorities. Those important water affairs on the Yangtze mainstream, major tributaries and large scale lakes should be managed directly by river basin authorities and supported by regional water administrative departments. The administrative power should be divided between river basin authorities and local water authorities based on the above-mentioned thoughts. The author proposed a general model for implementation of the combination of river basin management and regional administration in the Yangtze River basin, which is to establish Yangtze Basin Management Committee headed by the Ministry of Water Resources of China and contributed by the administrative ministries and departments including land resources, communication, energy, environment protection and forestry, and the provincial, autonomous regional and local governments. Such river basin management committee, with its own rules and by regular and non-regular meeting, takes charge of river basin macroscopically to coordinate and make decision over important water affairs. It is suggested that the current Changjiang Water Resources Commission be transferred into Yangtze River Basin Management Authority, as the executive body of such river basin committee and the dispatched body of the Ministry of Water Resources, to carry out work under the supervision of the Ministry of Water Resources. This set-up is based on the consideration of being favorable to enhance water resources management and the existing situation of China. This paper adopts the method of comparative analysis and elaborates the respective administrative powers of river basin management authority and regional water administration department in the aspects of integrated planning, strengthening water resources management, improving water administration legislation and law enforcement, enhancing water resources protection, improving hydrological management and handling water disputes. In the meantime, the paper proposes that the legal settings, administration arrangement, economic measures, and information supporting must be in place to ensure the implementation of administrative power division. |
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