China’s lack of water is itself partly a result of economic growth. As people grow wealthier and move to cities, they eat more water-intensive foods, buy more water-intensive products and use more water at home. Changing climate also plays a role, as rainfall patterns and river flows shift. All this is exacerbated by a strained agricultural sector – which accounts for 60 per cent of China’s water use. * * * The water scarcity is also worsened by the heavy pollution that accompanies China’s economic growth. * * * Already, 39 per cent of the water in China’s major rivers is too toxic to be fit for any contact with humans.
"China’s energy sector is particularly threatened by water shortages. Promising new technologies will be constrained in some areas. Projects to develop shale gas, for example, require large amounts of water for hydraulic fracking. Even as Beijing builds new nuclear power plants at a record rate, the government has also announced a moratorium on inland nuclear plants because of concerns over water supply and safety.
(b) "Eight of China’s 28 provinces are as parched as countries in the Middle East such as Jordan and Syria, according to China Water Risk, a consultancy based in Hong Kong."
(i) China Water Risk 中国水危机 http://chinawaterrisk.org/
(ii) 谁面临干旱: 各省 自治区 直辖市. 中国水危机, 2013 http://chinawaterrisk.org/wp-con ... os-running-dry.html
(干旱11省: 甘肃, 辽宁, 河南, 山东, 山西, 江苏, 上海, 河北, 天津, 北京 (the last six are labeled as 赤字6省, because these (six) are 人均年可再生水的使用比人均年可再生水资源多的地区))
Excluding the three 直辖市, "eight" provinces remains.
(c) "JIANG Liping, water specialist at the World Bank in Beijing"
蒋 礼平
(d) "XIA Jun, director of the centre for water resources research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences"
夏 军
(e) "LIN Boqiang, an energy economist at the University of Xiamen"
林 伯强
(f) "Minqin county, where Mr Wang lives, is a good example of how China’s obsession with water infrastructure has backfired. Mega-projects have been a hallmark of communist rule. When Mao Zedong was in power, a giant dam was built across Minqin’s only water source, the Shiyang river, in 1958, by students eager to show their devotion to their leader. But soon after the reservoir was filled, Qingtu lake, the body of water downstream that had been at the heart of the Minqin oasis, dried up."