China's growing water crisis
By Elizabeth Economy, World Politics Review
What is the biggest challenge that China faces?
Corruption, the gap between the rich and poor, and the rapidly aging population often top the list of answers to this question.
Yet a closer look suggests that the greatest threat may well be
lack of access to clean water. From "cancer villages" to violent protests to rising food prices, diminishing water supplies are exerting a profound and harmful effect on the Chinese people as well as on the country's capacity to continue to prosper economically.
While much of the challenge remains within China, spillover effects - such as
the rerouting of transnational rivers and a push to acquire arable land abroad - are also being felt well outside the country's borders.
China's leaders have acknowledged the severity of the challenge and have adopted a number of policies to address their growing crisis. However, their efforts have fallen woefully short, as they fail to include the fundamental reforms necessary to turn the situation around. Meanwhile domestic pressures, as well as international concerns, continue to mount.
Development Run Amok
China's water story begins with a challenging reality:
The country's per capita water resources just exceeded more than one-quarter that of the world average, and the distribution of those resources throughout the country is highly uneven.
Northern China is home to approximately
40 percent of the country's total population and almost half its agricultural land, and produces more than 50 percent of GDP. But
it receives only 12 percent of total precipitation. Southern China, in contrast, receives 80 percent of China's total precipitation, yet
skyrocketing levels of water pollution dramatically reduce the south's natural advantage.
The spectacular economic growth that has made China the envy of the world has only exacerbated the challenge. Resources, particularly water, are
consumed without consideration for future demand. Industry and agriculture are notoriously profligate water consumers:
Industry, which accounts for about one-quarter of China's total water consumption, uses anywhere from four to 10 times more water per unit of GDP as other competitive economies.
Read more here:
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/10/chinas-growing-water-crisis/?hpt=hp_bn2