Water resources of China
China has responded by measures such as rapidly building out the water infrastructure and increasing regulation as well as exploring a number of further technological solutions.
Due to continual economic growth and population size, China is one of the world’s leading water consumers.
Issues relating to water quality and quantity are likely primary limiting factors in China’s sustainable economic and infrastructural development.
According to the UN, almost a quarter of the world’s progress in this regard occurred in China, with 457 million citizens seeing enhanced water availability and quality from 1990 to 2010.
[8] Issues relating to water quality and quantity are likely primary limiting factors in China’s sustainable economic and infrastructural development.
[3] Over-extraction of groundwater and falling water tables are big problems in China, particularly in the north, where the area of irrigated land has increased significantly.
Eastern China accounts for 42% of the population and over half of the national GDP, but holds just 18% of the total water resources.
Such a diversion could fuel tension with India and Bangladesh, if no prior agreement were reached on sharing the river's water.
[19] On a smaller scale, some of the waters of the Irtysh River, which would otherwise flow into Kazakhstan, Russia, and the Arctic Ocean, have been diverted into the arid areas of north-central Xinjiang via the Irtysh–Karamay–Ürümqi Canal.
Due to the water problems, as well as for future exports, China is building up its desalination technological abilities and plans to create an indigenous industry.
[24][25] According to China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) in 2006, 60% of the country's rivers suffer from pollution to such an extent that they cannot be safely used as drinking water sources.
"[29][30] According to an article in The Guardian, in 2005, deputy minister Qiu Baoxing stated that more than 100 out of the 660 cities had extreme water shortages.
Pan Yue, deputy director of the state environmental protection agency, warned that economic growth was unsustainable due to the water problems.
In China, NDMA is thought to be a byproduct of local water treatment processes (which involve heavy chlorination).
There was a "bloom of blue-green algae that gave off a rotten smell" shutting off the main source of drinking water supply to 5.8 million people.
In April 2005 there were dozens of injuries in Dongyang city, Zhejiang Province, due to clashes over the nearby chemical factories of the Juxi Industrial Park accused of water pollution that harmed crops and led to deformed babies being born.
[35] According to a 2007 report by the World Bank, the pollution scandals demonstrate that, if not immediately and effectively controlled, pollution releases can spread across the boundaries of administrative jurisdictions, causing "environmental and economic damage as well as public concern and the potential for social unease".
To date there have been more than 30,000 cases reported with about 25 million people exposed to dangerously high levels in their drinking water.
[37] According to the WHO over 26 million people in China suffer from dental fluorosis (weakening of teeth) due to elevated fluoride in their drinking water.
In addition, over 1 million cases of skeletal fluorosis (weakening of bones) are thought to be attributable to drinking water.
[42]: 22 In 2016, the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan was introduced along with the goal of limiting annual water consumption per year to 670 billion cubic meters.
These guidelines played an important role in China showing a reduction in water consumption for the first time in over a decade in 2014.
[42]: 30 A number of laws have been passed since then that aimed to reduce water usage, waste, and pollution as well as increase disaster preparedness.
[47]: 91 The Decision established a 670 billion cubic meters limit for annual water consumption, to be broken down in turn per industry, region, and products.
[7] There has also been a great deal of focus on the exponentially higher investments and spending on water conservatory projects, a trend beginning in the early 2000s.
With notable investments into conservatory projects and recognition of the issue in early 2000s legislation, many have come to criticize China for its failure to introduce effective water resource management practices earlier than their mid-2010s onset.
[46] Following the decision to go forth with and begin building the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in 2002, there was a great deal of pushback regarding economic justification, local community disruption and relocation, and environmental strain on southern China.
In 2005 experts warned that China must use Integrated Water Resources Management in order to achieve sustainable development.
[15] In 2007 Ma Xiancong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Law, identified the following areas where the government failed to act, or tacitly consented, approved or actively took part and so created a worse situation: land appropriation, pollution, excessive mining and the failure to carry out environmental impact assessments.
