Guangzhou 95 or 98 Water Collection: Prices, Services and More.

Well, let’s yak about this water thing in Guangzhou, you know, that big city in China. I heard they got this 95 and 98 water, sounds fancy, huh? Don’t rightly know what it means, but I’ll tell ya what I heard.

Water, Water Everywhere, But Not a Drop to… Uh… Waste?

They say Guangzhou gets its water mostly from the rivers and stuff, like, 98 percent of it. That’s a whole lotta water, more than I can even imagine. They call it “surface water,” sounds clean enough, I guess. They been measuring this water for years, since way back in 1996. I heard they use a whole bunch of it, somethin’ like 1,847 million cubic meters a year. That’s a number so big it makes my head spin. It’s like, imagine a whole bunch of those big water towers, but like, a million times more.

Water Ain’t Free, You Know

Now, this water, it ain’t free, of course. Nothin’ is free these days, not even the air we breathe, though thankfully that ain’t taxed…yet. They gotta pay for it, just like we gotta pay for everything. They use it for all sorts of things, like factories and businesses. Factories pay around 3.23 RMB per ton, whatever a ton of water is. Businesses pay a bit more, like 3.46 RMB. I reckon that’s like paying for a whole bunch of buckets, maybe even a whole well full of water.

Water Prices Going Up?

• They used to treat water like it was for everybody, but now it’s all about money. They call it “commercialization.” Sounds fancy, but it just means they wanna make a profit, just like selling pigs or chickens at the market.
• I heard tell they were thinkin’ about makin’ the water prices higher. They even had a big meeting about it, a “public hearing” they called it. Folks probably weren’t too happy about that, I reckon. Nobody likes payin’ more for somethin’ they need.
• But then, this sickness came around, that COVID thing, and they lowered the prices for businesses for a spell. Guess they figured folks had enough to worry about without higher water bills.

Cheaper than Them Big Cities

Now, even with the talk of raisin’ prices, I heard Guangzhou’s water is still cheaper than in those other big cities, like Beijing and Shanghai. Maybe they got more water, or maybe they just ain’t as greedy. Who knows?

Water for Your House, Different Prices for Different Folks

They got this thing where they charge you different prices depending on how much water you use. It’s like, if you use just a little, you pay a little. But if you use a whole lot, you gotta pay more.

• If you use less than 180 cubic meters, it’s like 2.5 RMB per cubic meter.
• If you use between 181 and 260 cubic meters, it goes up to 3.7 RMB.
• And if you use even more than that, you’re payin’ like 4.9 RMB per cubic meter.

It’s like buyin’ eggs at the market. The more eggs ya buy the more it costs. Makes sense I guess.

Guangzhou – That Big City by the Water

Guangzhou, that city, it’s right there on the water, by the Pearl River they call it. Been there for thousands of years, they say. It’s a big port too, lots of boats and ships comin’ and goin’. They trade all sorts of stuff there, just like they did way back in the old days on that Silk Road thing I heard about once from a traveling salesman. Water’s important to ’em, I tell ya. Gotta have water for all them people and all that tradin’.

95 or 98? What’s the Diff?

So, about that 95 and 98 water… I still ain’t quite sure what it means. Maybe it’s like different kinds of gasoline, you know, the regular and the super? Maybe 98 is cleaner, or better somehow? Or maybe it’s got somethin’ to do with how they measure it. Anyways, they got a whole lotta water in Guangzhou, and they gotta pay for it one way or another. And that’s the long and short of it, as far as I can tell.

Water is a big deal, whether it’s for drinking, washing, or growing crops, it keeps things moving. In Guangzhou it sounds like they’ve got a lot of it but also a lot of people needin’ it, so they have to figure out how to share it fair and square, even if it means paying a little more now and then.