Northern China's water poverty, combined with myopic government policy, means that the region relies on fast-depleting groundwater for much of its household usage, industrial consumption and irrigated water. Groundwater drilling, coupled with breakneck industrialisation, has proved particularly toxic.
China is expected to face worsening water shortages until 2030 when the population peaks. The head of China's national development agency said in 2007 that one quarter the length of China's seven main rivers were so poisoned the water harmed the skin.
Five billion people, or around two-thirds of the world's population, will face at least one month of water shortages by 2050, according to the first in a series of United Nations reports on how climate change is affecting the world's water resources.
There are 17 countries listed in the category of suffering from extremely high baseline water stress – Qatar, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, United Arab Emirates, San Marino, Bahrain, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Oman and Botswana.
It has been attributed to the continuous high temperatures and low rainfall in the Yangtze Basin.
It is statements such as this that gave birth to popular notions of 'water wars'. It is time we dispelled this myth. Countries do not go to war over water, they solve their water shortages through trade and international agreements. Cooperation, in fact, is the dominant response to shared water resources.
While water quality is improving, drinking tap water still isn't recommended in China due to the presence of pollution and natural contamination of water supplies. Bottled water is readily available in China and is usually very cheap, but for environmental reasons, consider other options to save on plastic waste.
Although some variation in the quality of drinking water will occur because of the different sources of water used and different forms of treatment, drinking water that meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (the Guidelines) is considered safe to drink.
Industrial pollution has wreaked havoc on the country's water supply. Rapid urbanization has made it difficult to provide enough water to major cities.
China faces a daunting challenge: it houses 20 per cent of the world's population while only having seven per cent of the world's water resources. In addition, only 67.7 per cent of China's surface water is deemed safe for human contact and over 75 per cent of its ground water is classified as poor or very poor.
Australia is also the driest continent inhabited by humans, with very limited freshwater sources. Despite the lack of freshwater, Australians use the most water per capita globally, using 100,000L of freshwater per person every year.
Unless water use is drastically reduced, severe water shortage will affect the entire planet by 2040. "There will be no water by 2040 if we keep doing what we're doing today". - Professor Benjamin Sovacool, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Clean freshwater is an essential ingredient for a healthy human life, but 1.1 billion people lack access to water and 2.7 billion experience water scarcity at least one month a year. By 2025, two-thirds of the world's population may be facing water shortages.
China's economy is slowing, with annualized GDP growth falling to 0.4% for April–June 2022, its second lowest level since 1992. Economic recovery is being hampered by the combined effects of COVID and a falling property market.
China has had the largest population in the world since at least 1950, when the UN started keeping records. But it is now projected to experience an absolute decline in its population beginning as early as 2023.
The backbone of China's food production
As the backbone of China's food security, the 250 million smallholders produced about 80% of food in China. Yet they are among the most vulnerable groups, bearing the brunt of the food crisis due to their modest income and limited access to technology and financial support.
Many people live faraway from freshwater sources. They need to carry their water home. While our planet as a whole may never run out of water, it's important to remember that clean freshwater is not always available where and when humans need it.
Humans cannot drink saline water, but, saline water can be made into freshwater, for which there are many uses. The process is called "desalination", and it is being used more and more around the world to provide people with needed freshwater.
Water flows endlessly between the ocean, atmosphere, and land. Earth's water is finite, meaning that the amount of water in, on, and above our planet does not increase or decrease.
After putting their tastebuds to the test a group of thirsty judges has decided the best drinking water in the country is from the Richmond Valley Council in the New South Wales Northern Rivers region.
During fiscal year 2021, over 33.5 million megaliters of water were consumed by industry, while around 34 thousand megaliters were consumed by households in the Australian state of Tasmania. While New South Wales had the highest household consumption of water, Tasmania had the highest consumption from industry.
Under climate change, droughts in Australia will become more frequent and severe . Our drinking water supplies, and water crucial for irrigation and the environment, will dwindle again.
Since the 1980s, China has been facing water shortages of increasing magnitude and frequency for urban industry, domestic consumption, and irrigated agriculture (WB, 2002).