Increasing water scarcity in China

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Increasing water scarcity in China

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Inhibitors:

  • Government policy changes: The government could potentially implement new policies and restrictions on water usage.
  • A decrease in economic growth: If the economy slows due to the global recession, then less water will be needed for industrial production.
  • Increased public awareness and education about the environment: People may change their water consumption habits if they realize how scarce water is and if they are educated about the consequences of their consumption patterns.
  • Increases in the price of water: By increasing the cost of water, the government can better promote water conservation.
  • New projects to increase water supply: China is currently in the planning stages to build a funnel from south China to North China. The funnel will send more than 12 trillion gallons northward every year along three routes from the Yangtze River basin, where water is more abundant.
  • Technological advances in water sanitation: Water may become less scarce as advances are made in science to filter and clean polluted water.

Paradigms:

  • China has a severe regional water imbalance with about four-fifths of the water supply in the south. As water becomes increasingly scarce this imbalance may cause social unrest and conflict between the northern and southern regions of China.
  • Conflicts may arise between China and its neighboring countries if the country decides to look for new sources of water.
  • As water becomes more scarce, farmers will not be able to plant crops and food may become more scarce. Additionally, the quality of food produced in China may come into question as farmers continue to use polluted water for crops. Both of these factors may cause the health of the Chinese population to decline.
  • Economic growth may slow down significantly if comes down to whether or not people have enough water to survive and water needed for production of goods. This may slow China's rise as a economic power.

Timing:

  • 1949 - Present: Water usage in China has quintupled since 1949
  • 2006 - Official news agency says 18 million people are affected by what it describes as the country's worst drought in 50 years
  • 2040 - Scientists say that the aquifers below the North China Plain may be drained within 30 years
  • 2050 - China is still in the planning stages a $62 billion project called the South-to-North Water Transfer Project to funnel more than 12 trillion gallons northward every year along three routes from the Yangtze River basin, where water is more abundant. The project, if fully built, would be completed in 2050.

Experts:

  • Zhang Zhongmin - Professor at Xi'An University Of Technology
  • Richard Evans - Hydrologist who has worked in China for two decades and has served as a consultant to the World Bank and China’s Ministry of Water Resources
  • Ma Jun - Chinese environmentalist, non-fiction writer, environmental consultant, and journalist
  • Zheng Chunmiao - Leading international groundwater expert
  • Xiaoke Jiang - Former Director, Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau, Beijing

Web Resources:

  1. Jun, Ma. 2007. How participation can help China's ailing environment.
  2. PBS. 2006. China's Environmental Future.
  3. Yardley, J. 2007. Beneath Booming Cities, China’s Future Is Drying Up
  4. World Resources Institute. 1999. China's Health and Environment: Water scarcity, water pollution, and health.

Revision History:

  1. Created by Johanna Little, September 14th, 2009