Residents in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong Province, will be given a quota on water use -- a daily 210 liters per person, as part of a provincial plan to save water consumption.

Authorities have finished soliciting public opinions on the proposed water consumption quota, a Guangdong newspaper reported yesterday.

The quota will be tried out at industries in the near future and later introduced to local families, the report said.

The quota is jointly drafted by the provincial government's water resources department, development and reform commission and economic commission.

The authorities surveyed hundreds of companies and families, and more than 10 large farms and breeding centers across the province in more than two years.

The plan prescribed the water consumption quotas in 133 industries.

But thermal power generation, steelmaking, petroleum, cotton textile, beer brewing and alcohol industries will employ national standards.

According to the different natural, economic and technological conditions of different regions, the plan also set up a floating range to allow local authorities to decide.

But the quota for factories established in the future is required to be no higher than the floor of the floating range.

The quota also will be different for cities, depending on their size. The bigger the city, the higher the quota will be.

(Shanghai Daily June 20, 2006)