Preface

Resource shortage and environmental pollution are one of the prominent problems in today’s human society, in which water resources and environment bear the brunt. Water is not only an indispensably important material for human beings and other organisms to survive, but also an irreplaceable and extremely valuable natural resource for industrial and agricultural production, as well as for socio-economic development and ecological environment improvement. However, water resources in nature are limited. With the continuous growth of population and rapid development of economy, water consumption keeps increasing, as well as the amount of discharged waste water and sewage. The uncoordinated relationship stands out among water resources, socio-economic developmentand eco-environmental protection. The unreasonable development and utilization of water resources not only bring about general water shortage, but also possibly leads to regional ecological deterioration, which seriously influence the survival and development of human beings.
   Looking at the world civilization history we can see, both Europe, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and the United States, the most advanced country in science and technology, have experienced painful lessons from water pollution. The first serious environmental problem which is caused by rapid economic development in the past 40 years reform and opening up in China, is also water pollution. Water pollution not only aggravates the water crisis in arid and semi-arid areas, but also makes “water shortage in water villages” happens more frequently. In order to solve these water problems timely and effectively, we must strengthen the planning and management of water resources, pay attention to the coordination among water resources, society, economy and environment, and stick to sustainable development. As a result, the state attaches more importance to environmental protection, proposes to strengthen environmental protection, and to actively promote regional environmental treatment in key river basins and urban sewage and garbage treatment, agricultural non-point source pollution treatment, comprehensive treatment of heavy metal pollution and so on. The rational utilization and protection of water resources is not only a major strategy that our country must vigorously develop and urgently promote at the present stage, but also a common issue faced by the whole human society

前 言

资源短缺与环境污染是当今世界人类社会的突出问题，水资源与水环境首当其冲。水是人类及其他生物赖以生存的不可缺少的重要物质，也是工农业生产、社会经济发展和生态环境改善不可替代的极为宝贵的自然资源。然而，自然界中的水资源是有限的，随着人口的不断增长和社会经济的迅速发展，用水量在不断增加，排放的废水、污水量也在不断增加，水资源与社会经济发展、生态环境保护之间的不协调关系在“水”上表现得十分突出。水资源的不合理开发和利用不仅引起大面积的缺水危机，还可能诱发区域性的生态恶化，严重地困扰着人类的生存和发展。
       放眼世界文明史，无论是工业革命的发源地欧洲，还是科技最发达的美国，都经历了水污染的惨痛教训。 我国改革开放 40 年经济的高速发展， 最先凸显的沉重的环境代价也是水污染。水污染不仅进一步加剧了干旱、半干旱地区的水危机，也造成了“水乡缺水”情景的频繁发生。为了及时有效地解决这些水问题，必须加强水资源的规划与管理，必须统筹考虑水资源与社会、经济、环境之间的协调，走可持续发展道路。为此，国家把环境保护摆到更加重要的位置，提出要加强环境保护，积极推进重点流域区域环境治理及城镇污水垃圾处理、农业面源污染治理、重金属污染综合整治等工作。水资源的合理利用与保护，不仅是我国现阶段必须大力发展和急需推进的重大战略，更是人类社会共同面临的课题。