China's booming cities face water crisis

[DesertFox]

Pollution and consumption of water in China are increasing so fast that more than 100 of the country's biggest cities could soon be unable to quench the thirst of their populations, a cabinet minister has warned.

Qiu Baoxing, the Deputy Minister of Construction, said urgent action was needed to halt the deterioration of water supplies, which is increasingly cited as an economic risk and a cause of public protests.

Home to the world's biggest population - 1.3 billion people - and some of the driest regions on the planet, China has always had a water problem. But the strain has steadily worsened in the past 25 years as industrialisation and urbanisation have surged ahead almost regardless of the environment.

While international attention has focused on economic growth rates of more than 9 per cent a year, local concerns have centred more and more on the decline in water and air quality.

"Limited water resources are threatened by pollution, and water safety in cities is facing severe challenges," said Mr Qiu. In more than 100 of China's 660 cities, he said, the shortages were "extreme".

More (http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Chinas-booming-cities-face-water-crisis/2005/06/08/1118123900492.html?oneclick=true)

[Antigone]

China's water problem is really bad. While in Guangzhou taking a shower was awful. The water smelled just like a sewer. We reeked by the time we got home. As far as consumption goes, we didn't see that they really tried to make it an issue. Doesn't mean that it wasn't, we just never heard about it.

[PaulRevere]

I was in Beijing in 1995 and met an American from a city to the west who was excited about finally getting his water purifier for his shower. He complained that his skin itched and burned every time he took a shower.

Between contaminating their aquifers and sucking them dry, China's water problems will only worsen. China's population, meanwhile, will increase by 300 million by mid-century before levelling off. They will also by trying to move 400 million from the countryside to the cities. Rotsa ruck, Charwie!

[DesertFox]

Half-a-century of Communist mismanagement has turned China into a standard-issue (read stinking) socialist paradise. PJ O'Rourke noted that the normal smell in any socialist country is that of a public restroom.

[Wolfcounsel]

I think China will get its ass kicked by its own stupidity.