Legislation on protection of drinking water sources and local management practices in the Pearl River Delta region of China

ABSTRACT

The protection of drinking water sources is vital to urban development and public health. In this study, the current situation of the mandatory protection area for drinking water source in the Pearl River Delta region was investigated using a method combining Google Earth with the field survey. The gaps between management practices and legislation requirements were analyzed. Finally, several countermeasures for water resource protection were proposed as follows: to promote delineation in a more scientific way, to safeguard the sanctity of the law, to make better plan on water saving, and to encourage public participation in supervision and management.

KEYWORDS:

• Pearl River Delta region
• drinking water source
• protection area for drinking water source
• countermeasures

Acknowledgment

We thank Prof. Renduo Zhang, Dr. Fangang Meng and Dr. Qiang Zhang for reviewing this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.