WIll China Run Out of Clean Water?

[Royal]

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/08/china- ... chang.html

I don't think there are any refugees," said Liu Ning of China's Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters at the end of last month, denying media reports of people leaving their villages in areas stricken by extreme drought.

The senior official is obviously uninformed. Five thousand inhabitants of Nanhua country in Yunnan Province had no choice but to leave their homes in mountainous areas and set up camp near streams in a lowland region. In Guangxi, those who can leave do so. Reporters from Hong Kong's South China Morning Post saw villages "abandoned" by the young and middle-aged, leaving children and the elderly behind.


The worst water shortage in more than a century has hit the country's southwest, in Guizhou and Sichuan provinces in addition to Yunnan and Guangxi. Also badly affected has been Chongqing, a city the size of Belgium. In the north Ningxia, Shanxi, Hebei and Gansu are drought-stricken. The flow from the source of the Pearl River, which empties into the South China Sea near Hong Kong and Macau, has been reduced to a trickle from a waterfall. China is, in a word, parched.

Conditions in some areas of the southwest are horrifying. Chen Guihua, a peasant, and her parents-in-law, both in their 60s, walk more than 5 and a half miles most days--over two mountain ridges--for two buckets of drinking water. For more than three months they have not brushed their teeth or taken a shower. Now conditions are getting even worse.

In Chen's village of Nongmei in Guangxi, the land this year is too dry for spring planting. Livestock has perished from thirst. Animals have also starved to death because villagers, for eight months, have eaten the plants in the wild after crops withered in the field. In Nongtai, a nearby village, elderly residents knelt before county officials pleading for drinking water so they would not die.

Other Chinese citizens are not so submissive. In February 300 peasants stormed a township government building in Hengshishui in Guangdong Province over a plan by local officials to divert water to another area. Fights among farmers for water are now common in the southwest, and soaring food prices in Yunnan are leading to concerns about social unrest.

[Royal]

China needs to reduce food production on its dry northern plains or aquifers will diminish to a "dire" level in 30 years, one the country's leading groundwater experts has warned.

Zheng Chunmiao, director of the Water Research Centre at Peking University, said the world's most populous country will have to focus more on demand-side restraint because it is becoming more expensive and difficult to tap finite supplies below the surface.

"The government must adopt a new policy to reduce water consumption," Zheng told the Guardian. "The main thing is to reduce demand. We have relied too much on engineering projects, but the government realises this is not a long-term solution."

Zheng's comments are based on his studies of the aquifers under the North China plain, one of the country's main wheat growing regions. He said the water table is falling at the rate of about a metre a year mainly due to agriculture, which accounts for 60% of demand.

"The water situation in the North China plain does not allow much longer for irrigation," Zheng said. "We need to reduce food production even though it is politically difficult. It would be much more economical to import."

The government will be reluctant to accept such a radical step, which could weaken the country's ability to feed itself. But it may not have a choice.

Over the past 10 years, Zheng estimates the annual water deficit in northern China at 4bn cubic metres. This is increasingly made up from underground sources, which account for 70% of water supplies. Although some aquifers remain 500 metres thick, others are emptying at an alarming rate. This has created depletion cones, the deepest of which is at Hengshui near Xizhuajiang.

Before trimming agricultural production, the government will try to improve usage efficiency. Plans are now being drawn up to measure and centrally manage the remaining resources, which are currently under the control of regional governments that often tend to draw up water unsustainably for the short-term benefit of the local economy.

The Yellow River Conservancy Commission – which has the nation's most advanced river management network – is expected to serve as a model.

"The government is considering a system similar to ours that will collect data on underground water resources and connect it to our Yellow River monitoring system," said Pei Yong, director of the water regulation division. "I think it will start three or four years from now."

Even before this begins, controls on underground water use are slowly being tightened. Well digging – once a lucrative, ubiquitous and poorly regulated business - is already feeling the pinch.

Kaifeng Well Drilling – a company in Henan – charges 100-500 yuan for each metre drilled, but it has recently laid off workers because it gets permission for only two wells a year now, compared to about 30 in the 1980s.

"Business is very bad. Many firms have had to change business," said the director, who only gave his surname, Wang. "The controls are very tight now. You only get permission to drill in areas with severe water shortages."

Such restrictions are said to have slowed the rate of aquifer depletion, but the situation remains critical. Zheng said much more needs to be done, including demand reduction, water transfers and greater use of desalination plants.

"We will get there because we have to," he said. "If nothing changes, then in 30 years, we will face a dire situation."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... food-water

[Egg]

Potable water's the next big thing. Bigger than oil. Blue gold - google it.

Libya - they have an underground aquifer that is huge and provides something like 60% of the water to the country. With your tinfoil hat on, it's another reason why Western powers might want to help out rebels....

[lkwalker]

only a species as short sighted as humans would figure it's a good idea to piss in the well.

[Egg]

only a species as short sighted as humans would figure it's a good idea to piss in the well.

True.

Enter nuclear power.

[lkwalker]

Potable water's the next big thing

here's a hot tip for you. Keep it to yourself. My patent on the shit expired last month. There's a ground floor opportunity for you if you hurry.

[Egg]

Potable water's the next big thing

here's a hot tip for you. Keep it to yourself. My patent on the shit expired last month. There's a ground floor opportunity for you if you hurry.

What's the buy in?

[IndicusMaximus]

Your juicy delectable soul.

[Egg]

Deal!

[Egg]

Deal!