From September 14 to 16, 2011, the International Conference on Drinking Water Safety in Arid Areas was taken place in Beijing under the sponsorship of the Beijing Normal University (BNU) and German Civilizations Matter and co-sponsored by the GWP China and UNESCO Beijing Office. The Conference aimed at exchanging views and sharing experiences in ensuring safety of drinking water in the arid areas.
Dr. Michael Schaefer, the Ambassador of Germany to China and Mr. Wang Shouqiang, the former Vice Water Minister and Advisor of Water Sciences Institute of the BNU, were invited to give speeches at the opening session of the Conference. The keynote speaker is Mr. Li Yangbing, the Director General, the Drinking Water Safety Research Center, Ministry of Water Resources. On behalf of GWP China, Mr. Zheng Rugang, the Coordinator of GWP China was invited to attend the meeting.
There were over 40 participants from relevant departments and organizations from China and Germany. The topics for discussions included the status of drinking water safety, the change of drinking water availability due to climate change and reduction of resources, the improvement measures on the drinking water supply in semi-arid rural areas in China, contamination of surface and ground water, technology for treating the unsafe drinking water, etc. At the last day of the conference, the participants also discussed about the cooperation between the different organizations in the field of drinking water safety particularly in arid and semi-arid areas.
As one of the co-sponsors, GWP China assisted the BNU at the preparation stage to invite related professionals and the representatives from the provincial water resources departments in the north and northwest China, including Tianjin Municipality, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, and Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Autonomous regions.