In February 2007, our newspaper received a report claiming that the Zhengzhou Sino-French Cooperative, a joint-venture by a subsidiary of the Suez Group and the Zhengzhou Tap Water Company, was suspected of stealing water from the Yellow River.

Original documents made available to the EO clearly show that in the company's six years of operation, the difference between the volume of water actually drawn from the Yellow River was 50 million cubic meters greater than publicly reported, a figure that does not include water lost during water processing.

From 2000 until now, Zhengzhou residents have weathered an increase in water prices from 1.1 to 2.45 yuan per cubic meter. If we use an average price of 1.9 yuan per cubic meter, the sale of this water netted more than 100 million yuan.

The EO sent two journalists to Zhengzhou to investigate and verify these claims.

A 50 Million Cubic Meter Puzzle

"You can imagine my own surprise after having gone through six years of data. When you add market prices into the calculations, the shock eventually gives way to panic and anger," says our source.

According to information from the Yellow River Diversion Daily and the Henan Yellow River Water Survice Bureau, by the end of 2006, the Huayuankou water harvesting facility run by Zhengzhou Sino-French had drawn 401.13 million cubic meters of water.

This conflicts with internal data recorded by Zhengzhou Sino-French, which says that over the six-year period, they provided 456.10 million cubic meters of water to the public.

The source says that during processing, water from the Yellow River must go through no less than ten steps, including desilting, filtration, and treatment. During that time some water will be wasted; conservative estimates put that at 10,000 cubic meters a day. Thus it is clearly impossible for supply to exceed draw.

If we use the estimate of 10,000 cubic meters of water being wasted a day, wasted water for the whole six years would amount to 21.9 million cubic meters. Even if we neglect this, the 6-year supply far exceeded the stated draw, by 54.97 million cubic meters.

The EO attempted to contact the company for comment but none was given.

Actually, three suits have been filed by Yellow River Water Conservation Committee against the company since 2002, all of which are related to water fees. Drawing water and defaulting on debt have become the two major sticking points over long term negotations between the Committee and the business.