Water problems, including recent environmental disasters, are spurring the public to action. Open debate and public participation in Chinese environmental policy have been limited and unusual, but there are signs that growing concern over water pollution and contamination is leading to efforts by citizens to change water policies and laws. A major environmental law passed in China in 2003 for the first time ostensibly encouraged public participation in environmental decision making. This law, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Law requires all major construction projects to undertake an impact assessment. Further, it states “The nation encourages relevant units, experts and the public to participate in the EIA process in appropriate ways” (Eng and Ma 2006). In addition, the law states that “the institutions should seriously consider the opinions of the relevant units, experts and the public” and “should attach explanations for adopting or not adopting the opinions.” Eng and Ma (2006) note that like many other laws in China, “the EIA Law is merely a guideline and the requirement for public participation is very briefly stated. Still, it has provided an initial legal cornerstone for encouraging public participation in governmental decision making processes.” In an astounding admission in 2005, the Chinese government acknowledged that 50,000 environmentally related public protests occurred that year.

In fall 2007, China’s National People’s Congress publicized a draft of a new law on water pollution to solicit public opinion. The law proposes heavier punishment on both polluters and “irresponsible” officials, including fines for industrial offenders and administrative punishments or criminal charges for officials who delay reporting or hide water pollution incidents. Associated with this growing public participation in environmental issues, central government officials have had to permit the creation and operation of nongovernmental organizations concerned about the environment. Many of these NGOs are focusing on water pollution and threats to aquatic ecosystems, and are learning how to use existing environmental laws to force change. Yu Xiaogang directs the Green Watershed initiative in Yunnan, and won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2006. Yu has worked with local villagers to help them understand the impacts of dam construction. Other citizens have sued chemical plants to force compensation for health and environmental damages or to make more environmental information accessible to the public.

Public participation evokes contradictory responses by the government. New regulations have recently been issued that seem to encourage public participation in some environmental reviews, while others restrict non-governmental and non-Chinese organisations from monitoring and reporting on water issues. The difficulty of obtaining independent information on water supply, use, and quality has recently been worsened by increased government control over the hydrologic activities of nongovernmental actors, and non-Chinese scientists and organisations, ostensibly to protect “national security”. In 2006, a dam protester was executed for what government officials claimed was his role in the death of a policeman at a protest of 100,000 people opposed to Pubugou dam (BBC 2006, Haggart 2006). New regulations took effect in mid-2007 requiring official governmental approval of any hydrological monitoring and reporting. The regulations also state that water data must only be released to the public by “relevant government department or authorised hydrological organisations,” which permits total control over the release of independent assessments and monitoring.  An additional constraint on foreign efforts to report or monitor on China water issues is the requirement that local authorities must supervise all such efforts. Only time will tell whether China develops a healthy level of public participation in addressing the country’s water problems.