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waterCrisis.jpg

Diminishing water supplies across the nation

  • China will have exploited all of its available water supplies by 2030, the government has warned. (Source: Buckley, Chris, “China says water supplies exploited by 2030,” Beijing Reuters, December 14, 2007.)
  • China’s per capita natural freshwater resources are expected to decline to 1,875 m3 by 2033, down from 2,156 m3 in 2007 (among the lowest per capita for a major country). 1,000m3 per capita is regarded the world water poverty mark. (Source: World Bank, “Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues,” 2009.)
  • 60% of China’s 660 cities are short of water. (Source: World Bank, “Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues,” 2009.)
  • 108 cities, including Beijing and Tianjin, face serious water shortages. Beijing has 230 m3 per capita of fresh water, far below the world water poverty mark. (Source: World Bank, “Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues,” 2009.)
  • South China (the Yangtze River basin and areas to its south) accounted for 80.4% of the nation’s naturally available water resources but only 53.3% of the population, whereas Northern China accounted for 19.6% of the water resources but 46.7% of the population in 2000. (Source: World Bank, “Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues,” 2009.)
  • In 2006, nearly half of China’s major cities did not meet provincial drinking-water quality standards (Source: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), “Environmental Performance Review of China,” Paris, France, July 2007.)


    Water resources per capita

    Source: World Bank, Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for
    Selected Water Resource Management Issues, 2009.

Southern China

  • The Pearl River basin is faring better than many of the other great river systems in China in terms of quality. Water resources for the basin total 284 billion m3, allowing 2.383 m3 per capita. (Source: Civic Exchange, “Liquid Assets: Water Security and Management in the Pearl River Basin and Hong Kong,” December 2009.)
  • In 2007, a severe drought left well over a million people short of drinking water in southern China. (Source: Gleick, Peter H., “The World’s Water 2008-2009: The Biennial Report on Fresh Water Resources,” Island Press, December 2008.)
  • From October 2004 through January 2005, southern China suffered from what local authorities described as the worst drought in at least 50 years. The drought endangered the supply and quality of drinking water for more than 15 million people in the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong, Hainan and elsewhere in the region. (Source: USDA, Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division Foreign Agricultural Service, “Recent Rain Eases Drought in Southern China,” 2005.)

Northern China

  • In northern China, 45% of the water is considered unfit for human consumption, compared to 10% in southern China. For example, 80% of the rivers in the northern province of Shanxi have been rated “unfit for human contact.” (Source: World Bank, “Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues,” 2009.)
  • The annual per capita level of naturally available water resources in the Huang-Huai-Hai River basin area ranges from 358 m3 in the Hai-Luan basin to 750 m3 in the Huang, both being below the world water poverty mark. (Source: World Bank, “Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues,” 2009.)
  • In the Hai River basin, where Beijing and Tianjin are located, just 1.5% of China’s water resources are available to support 10% (130 million people) of the total population. (Source: World Bank, “Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues,” 2009.)
  • The annual sustainable supply of groundwater in the Hai River basin is estimated at about 17.3 km3 (17.3 billion m3), while withdrawals were 26.1 km3 (26.1 billion m3). This indicates an annual over-extraction of 8.8 km3 (8.8 billion m3). (Source: World Bank, “Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues,” 2009.)
  • It is estimated that over 80% of the wetlands in the North China Plain have been lost, and natural streams and creeks have dried up as a result of groundwater and surface water overdrafts. (Source: Gleick, Peter H., “The World’s Water 2008-2009: The Biennial Report on Fresh Water Resources,” Island Press, December 2008.)