Expert calls for China to tackle water scarcity concerns

Wang Yinan, a researcher from the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC), recently published an article in China Economic Weekly, saying that China is on the brink of a severe water crisis. Without water, the country's economic development, food security and ecological conservation will all be in jeopardy. He called for the country to tackle the increasingly severe water scarcity and said that this issue has become the top priority for ecological civilization and national security maintenance.

(Photo/Xinhua)

Currently, China’s water scarcity is shown in two ways. First, China’s per capita water resources stand at 2,063 cubic meters, which is only 28 percent of the world average. What's more, China’s water resources are unevenly distributed throughout the country, with northern provinces being affected more frequently.

Until now, water scarcity has caused severe ecological problems and threatens national security. Water for ecological use is always sacrificed for production and daily living, more so in the north of China. With a lack of water, there's also a severe challenge when it comes to food security. Some provinces have to over-exploit groundwater to maintain their food production. What’s worse, deep groundwater has already been over-exploited, with the North China Plain becoming the largest “Funnel Area” in the world.

Wang said that it’s important to build large regulating reservoirs to enhance China’s regulating abilities. Currently, although China has more reservoirs than any other country in the world, 99 percent of them are small or medium reservoirs which have lower regulating abilities. China’s per capita storage capacity of reservoirs is still very low, only accounting for 22 percent of the average found in developed countries.

Wang has called for the attention of this urgent issue and suggests improving management systems and mechanisms for the development of water resources.