Following a client request, the ED Group analytics team examined the practical question of the relevance and feasibility of supplying drinking water from Russia to Chinese regions bordering Russia — Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, as well as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Key findings:

• The analysis showed that large-scale supplies of drinking water from Russia to these regions are economically and strategically impractical.
• At the provincial level, there is a surplus of water resources.
• Water quality and sustainability issues are addressed primarily through infrastructure and management rather than external water imports.

Study details

The latest available estimates of total water resources indicate a high level of water availability in the Chinese provinces bordering Russia.

At the same time, water distribution is uneven (local stress zones may occur, particularly in western areas), but no structural shortage of drinking water is emerging at the level of the three regions.

Surface water quality indicators and compliance of drinking water sources with standards are generally at a high level:

• Jilin: 89.0% of surface water is rated “good/excellent”; compliance of drinking water sources with standards — 88.9%.
• Inner Mongolia: 80.2% is Class III or above; compliance of drinking water sources — 85.5%.
• Heilongjiang: 68.3% is rated “good/excellent”; after accounting for natural background factors, compliance of drinking water sources with standards — 100%.

Thus, the constraints lie in local water treatment, monitoring and targeted modernization rather than in the need to increase drinking water volumes through imports.

The water supply structure confirms that the regions rely on a combination of surface water and groundwater, with groundwater playing a significant role in Inner Mongolia.

The study also separately examined reservoir reserves, which reflect resilience to seasonality and weather fluctuations. Expressed in terms of household consumption, storage capacity amounts to:

• Jilin — 14.4 annual consumption volumes
• Heilongjiang — 9.2 annual consumption volumes
• Inner Mongolia — 4.7 annual consumption volumes

Recommendations to the Client

The final position formulated for the client was that the regions under review show no signs of a persistent deficit or sufficient demand that could justify cross-border projects for supplying drinking water as a resource.

At the same time, we identified more realistic areas where practical impact and commercial value may be possible:

• solutions for water quality monitoring and risk management;
• modernization of water treatment and infrastructure in local areas;
• assessment of climate scenarios and specific bottlenecks in water systems.