Strain Grows As China's Water Problems Multiply - Reuters

[hatrack]

EDIT

Per capita water resources in the world's most populous country are less than a third of the global average, and falling. More than 300 million people in rural areas lack clean drinking water, and many are being slowly poisoned by water that contains too much fluorine, salt and even arsenic.

Tackling these issues is a key part of Beijing's economic and social development plan for the next five years, but the problems are deep-rooted. More than a decade of near double-digit economic growth coupled with a still expanding population has put an almost unbearable strain on water demand in China.

Pollution is so severe the Ministry of Water Resources estimates 40 percent of water in the country's 1,300 or so major rivers is fit only for industrial or agricultural use. "The Rhine and the Thames became cesspools during industrialisation but China's industrialisation is moving so quickly now that it's going to take a gigantic effort to address this," said Dermot O'Gorman, the WWF's China representative.

EDIT

Ill-conceived irrigation has made matters worse. In arid Ningxia, rice is grown beside the river. "It's probably the craziest place to grow rice. Look at the evaporation in the summer -- it's 40 degrees Celsius and doesn't see rain for months," said Vaclav Smil, a professor at Canada's University of Manitoba and a Chinese water expert. "The rational thing would be to shut it down and walk away from it, but now you have all these people depending on it," he told Reuters. "What would you do with these people? Where would you shove them? Gansu? It would be the same," Smil said, referring to Ningxia's equally dry neighbouring province.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35850/story.htm

[Minnesota Libra]

1. This could get interesting if ........

....China starts taking notice of the water supply and water quality of surrounding countries. With the military might China is trying to build up these days, water will no doubt be a catalyst for just about anything.

[demosincebirth]

2. Maybe we could sell them water and get our trade deficit down