On July 11, the Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province announced on its official website the candidate sites for the construction of onshore marine sand desalination plants in Guangdong Province. As of June 2022, there are a total of 78 sites chosen for onshore marine sand desalination in various cities in Guangdong Province. According to China Aggregates Association, the Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province issued the "Notice on Supporting the Planning and Construction of Land-based Marine Sand Desalination Sites". It is mentioned that all local governments should give full play to the guiding and restraining role of territorial space planning, scientifically plan and construct onshore marine sand desalination sites, and reasonably ensure their land use needs.

The "Notice" is attached with "Guidelines for the Site Selection of Onshore Marine Sand Desalination Sites". It is required to actively guide the planning and site selection. All local governments should set up necessary onshore marine sand desalination fields according to the guidelines, and actively guide the planning and site selection in combination with the national land and space planning, and disclose to the public the alternative areas for the construction of local onshore marine sand desalination site s to guide social investors to invest in the construction. .

The "Notice" pointed out that under the premise of conforming to the national land space planning (overall land use planning, urban and rural planning), the use of low-efficiency stock construction land to build onshore marine sand desalination fields is encouraged.

In addition, the "Notice" requires strengthening the guarantee of water conservancy. If an onshore marine sand desalination site is set up within the river course management scope, and it has been demonstrated that it meets the flood control standards, coastline planning and other technical requirements, the water administrative department of the people's government at the city or county level where the river course is located shall handle the river course management scope according to law. The legal sand storage yard within the original river management scope can be transformed into an onshore marine sand desalination site as a priority. For onshore marine sand desalination sites established in accordance with the law, the water administrative department where the water intake is located should strengthen the management of water intake licenses for sand washing enterprises to ensure the reasonable demand for water intake and use.

For a long time, many places in Guangdong Province have the habit of using desalinated marine sand. The Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province sells 60 million to 70 million cubic meters of marine sand every year, but it is far from meeting the market demand. In recent years, the infrastructure construction in Guangdong Province remains high, therefore the market demand for construction sand is strong, and the contradiction between supply and demand is prominent, which leads to the frequent use of marine sand in violation of regulations. The frequent use of marine sand in violation of regulations, especially the unqualified or even non-desalinated marine sand being used, causing serious hidden dangers to infrastructure, housing construction and other projects in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area! The announcement of 78 candidate sites for onshore marine sand desalination in various cities in Guangdong Province will greatly promote the rational and standardized development of marine sand desalination.