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Friday, April 27th, 2012

Water and Will in Short Supply in China

Author:     Benjamin A Shobert
Source:     Asia Times (Hong Kong)
Publication Date:     24-Apr-12
 Link: Water and Will in Short Supply in China
Stephan:   Let's say it all together, you know the tune: Water is Destiny! China is particularly vulnerable because so much of its territory is dependent on the Himalayan hydrology, or has been severely polluted. As the glaciers of the great mountains melt 1.4 billion people, not just in China, are at risk. That, in turn, will have international consequences. Benjamin A Shobert is the Managing Director of Rubicon Strategy Group, a consulting firm specialized in strategy analysis for companies looking to enter emerging economies. He is the author of the upcoming book Blame China and can be followed at www.CrossTheRubiconBlog.com.

Across China, the signs of the country’s distressed water supply have grown increasingly severe over the past several years. In February, Vice Minister of Water Resources Hu Simi publicly stated ‘The situation is extremely serious in many areas. With overdevelopment, water use has already surpassed what our natural resources can bear.’

Estimates are that some 400 of China’s 600 cities are already facing water crises of some sort, most related to either pollution of limited supplies, or in several cases millennia-old aquifers having been completely used up as the region has rapidly industrialized. In 2010, the Ministry of Land and Resources estimated that 57% of the country’s underground water should be classified either as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’.

The 2011 drought in southern China made this issue abundantly clear. For a country with a long history of resource-induced famines and social instability, last year’s drought was an ugly reminder of the role one of the planet’s most easily overlooked, yet increasingly precious resources, will play as the country develops. Projects like the South-to-North Water Project, the largest man-made water diversion project ever planned, are designed to address the scarcity of water in China’s barren northern provinces where most of China’s northern provinces […]

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