In many countries of the Asian and the Pacific region, greater knowledge about national water resources and their current and future use is needed in order to formulate and implement proper national policies aimed at achieving sustainable development and environmentally sound management of freshwater resources. To date, however, a comprehensive assessment of water resources and detailed estimation of water demands in various sectors of the national economy have been only made in a few countries of the region, including China.

We hope that this publication is of interest to those who are involved in assessing water resources and their potential for meeting ever-growing water demands. The book describes the results and explains methods used in the country-wide quantitative and qualitative assessment of freshwater resources and the projection of water demands for various time horizons that was carried out in China.

This study has been prepared under the auspices of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) with partial financial support from the government of China, which has enabled the ESCAP secretariat to involve the Nanjing Institute of Hydrology and Water Resources of the Ministry of Water Resources of China in the drafting of the study.