Chinese Government, World Bank Warn Of Water Crisis - Boston Globe

[hatrack]

BEIJING -- "Surging water consumption in China's growing cities and towns, coupled with reckless industrial and agricultural use, is straining the nation's already strapped water supplies, the government and several international organizations warn. China's water resources amount to the fifth-largest in the world, and its winding rivers have cradled civilizations for over five millennia. But with the country's population swelling to 1.3 billion, many of China's rivers, including the legendary Yellow River, are drying up, and the water table is falling.

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The country's annual per capita water supply is only 2,200 cubic meters, 25 percent of the global average, according to the World Bank. The government says that by 2030, the water supply is expected to fall below 1,700 cubic meters per person, which the World Bank calls dangerously low. During the same period, water demand is expected to more than triple, from 120 billion tons a year to 400 billion tons. Using uncharacteristically strong language, the World Bank recently warned that the situation "will soon become unmanageable, with catastrophic consequences for future generations."

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Beneath the rugged expanse of the North China Plain, where almost half of the country's grain is produced, a recent government survey revealed that the water table has fallen 5 feet in just five years. The government estimates that 400 of China's 668 cities are dealing with water shortages. The World Bank also says three-fourths of China's rivers are polluted, and more than 700 million people drink contaminated water.

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Western diplomatic officials in Beijing say they are also troubled by China's damming of the Mekong River and its diversion of water from Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Some officials also are concerned that China could divert rivers that originate in Tibet, such as the Indus and Sutlej, which are also critical to India and Pakistan, and the Brahmaputra, which is critical to India and Burma.
The possibility of water disputes between China and its neighbors is a serious enough concern that the US National Intelligence Council, a body of senior intelligence officials, has begun to closely monitor China's water situation."

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Boston Globe

[aquart]

1. Am I wrong to worry

That a financial institution is talking about water shortages?

[izzie]

2. This is Izzie and I am a nut on this water stuff. Wars are coming over it.

I just feel it in my bones.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. But first, the Oil Wars......

[mmm]

4. O boy

that is way worse than I thought.
This will not have a happy ending.

[cprise]

5. They could undertake large-scale desalinization

...to offset some of the shortage.

They will need lots of nuclear power to do it.

[TennesseeWalker]

6. Bad news. Look for it to happen over here soon..

Water will be the next oil