The global water crisis has brought the survival and development of the human being into question. Water safety and sustainable usage of water resources become concerns of every country in the world. This year, United Nations set the theme of the 15th World Water Day which is on March 22nd as “Coping with Water Scarcity”.

As the fast development of Chinese economy and acceleration of urbanization process, the gap between water shortage and the increasing demand for it has been further widened. In China, more than 400 cities of 660 cities in the country are facing the problem of water shortage. However, the precious water resources have been polluted in many places. Urban water safety and water environment are under great threat. Today, water scarcity, worsening water pollution and deterioration of urban water ecology have become the main causes hindering the sustainable development of China.
 

In order to realize the sustainable development of Chinese economy and further improve people’s living standards and health condition, we have to firstly ensure the urban water supply and to better the water environment, which are also the inevitable choices in the process of constructing a water saving society and forming a mature water industry. Only in this way can we ease the increasing tension between the resources demand of human society and the natural environment.

For years, Chinese governments at every level have actively done a lot of work to accelerate the construction of wastewater treatment system and made a great achievement in the development of urban water industry. But we still see a number of severe challenges before us. On one hand, there is a worsening pollution in urban water environment; on the other hand, wastewater treatment facilities are generally insufficient. We still have a long way to go to assure the safety in urban water supply and to further improve the water using efficiency. It requires us to explore the new technologies in water field and encourage innovation in management mechanism to cope with these unprecedented challenges.

Against such background, the 2nd International Conference for China Urban Water Development & Exhibition of New Technologies and Facilities for Water Treatment is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Construction, P. R. China, National Development and Reform Commission of P. R. China, Ministry of Science and Technology, P. R. China and State Environmental Protection Administration of P. R. China. The conference aims at introducing the advanced technologies and experience abroad and summing up the former practice in Chinese water industry in an attempt to work out development strategies which are in accordance with China’s situation, and to accelerate the industrialization process in Chinese water industry.