Regional Water Policy in China – Problems and Approaches in the Taihu und Wuhan Regions

This contribution depicts the governance arrangements for water resource management in the regions of the Tai Lake Basin and in the city of Wuhan. As to the Tai Lake Basin, the focus is on pollution control. It is shown that sustainable, integrated water management is strongly impeded by high fragmentation of the administrative competences and that adequate organizational integration and effective coordination instruments are lacking. The city of Wuhan is presented as an advanced example regarding the implementation of the “Sponge City” concept. It is shown that Wuhan has managed to establish a more integrated administrative arrangement for the purpose of water infrastructure development and a complex structure of objectives, standards, and responsibilities for the advancement of the Sponge City project. In order to place these examples of regional water governance into the wider national picture, we firstly provide a brief overview of the factual and institutional backdrop in China.