Shanghai, China

Comment

Comment by Emily Eliot on March 26, 2009 at 2:50am

Thanks Kevin! Wow, my very own group. Brian you better be proud of how eagerly I'm participating. I actually did a ton of research on water treatment facilities in China last year, and came across this scary article last month: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bw/2009-02/09/content_7455321.htm

Did you know over 70% of China's fresh water is polluted, and only 46% of that water is treated?

Also, here is some more info from a JP Morgan report last May:

China possesses only 6.2% of global freshwater resources to supply 21% of the world’s population. Water pollution has become a new menace, particularly in Northern China, due to: over-exploitation of surface and ground water resources; little or no treatment of industrial and municipal waste water and increasing demand upon water resources from agriculture, industry and municipalities.

- 42% of river sections, 71% of lakes and 50% of urban groundwater in China is heavily polluted
- Groundwater tables are depleting rapidly (1 m/year) due to overexploitation
- The Yellow River is drying out
- The Yangtze River suffered from flooding in 1998 caused by encroachment on water retention zones; cultivation on slope land and excessive logging,
- Glaciers are melting; the snowline is rising due to global warming

The source of Asia’s major rivers are in China. China’s increasing consumption of water, construction of dams and modification to river courses or irrational management of water resources may impact security in Asia