Various problems such as urban flood inundation and water shortage occurred in China during the rapid urbanization in the last several decades. An urban water management program called Sponge City (SPC) is put forward in China in 2014 in order to relieve the flood inundation and water shortage situation. The SPC program implements not only the concept and practices of low impact development but also various comprehensive urban water management strategies. The SPC development promotes water security, water environmental protection, and water ecological restoration. The background information and general principles of the SPC program are introduced in this paper as well as the experience and achievement obtained in developing SPC so far. Sixteen cities have been selected by Chinese government as SPC's pilot cities in March, 2015. The Chinese government will provide special subsidy and financial support for the development of SPC in the next three years. The geographic, hydrologic, economical characteristics of the sixteen cities vary from each other, therefore, the SPC plan and implementation will be different in 16 cities. A new investment and financial supporting mode based on Public-Private Partnership concept is employed to handle the SPC construction and operation cost. Chinese central and local government agencies and engineers are exploring various innovative methods to handle the problems caused by rapid urbanization as well as seek sustainable financial support and investment approaches for urban infrastructure construction related to SPC development.
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