Concerns over water resources and desalination technology are highly focused at an ongoing high-level industrial event in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong province.

The 2018 Qingdao International Water Conference, which opened Wednesday and will last till Friday, attracted more than 700 participants including officials, experts and businessmen from over 20 countries and regions, focusing on water resource conservation, unconventional water resources, water pollution and treatment, and ecological civilization.

Yu Hongwen, vice-president of the Shandong Association for Science and Technology, said the per capita water resources in China are low and water resource protection and development are vital to people’s interests.

“Technologies such as recycled water use and unconventional water resource development are significant for relieving the lack of water resources, improving water quality and recovering water ecological system functioning in China,” Yu said.

During the three-day event, organizers established over 150 booths to display advanced technologies from home and abroad including desalination technology.

Qingdao is one of the water-shortage cities in China and the city has two 100,000-ton desalination programs, with its relevant technologies taking the lead across the country.

Rory Weaver, an editor of DesalData, an online website under Global Water Intelligence, a world-leading water intelligence provider, said the desalination of water has a role to play in addressing water issues in the world, but it is part of a long-term plan for devitrifying water supplies and doesn’t do well in emergency drought solutions.