Sustainable Use Of Water

1. Sustainable Use Of Water Josh Salmon, Will Bragg and Harry Thorogood

2. China’s Water Facts • Only 83% have access to safe drinking water. • Around48million people in China lack sufficient drinking water. • And 360million lack safe drinking water. • China has a fifth of the worlds population but only 7% of the total drinking water (similar volume to US but more than 5 times the population). • It is estimated that China will need to increase its water supply fivefold to meet its industrial needs by 2035. • Although water use per person is 116,000 gallons compared to the US at 500,000 gallons.

3. Availability Issues • The per capita volume of water available is around 25% of the world average. This becomes even lower in years of drought. • More villagers have access to electricity than running water. Evidence of economic growth out pacing Social necessities. • Shortages are prominent in northern China due to dry weather, whereas southern areas are wet and gain water largely from ponds and lakes. • Northern China contains 50% of its population, but only 15% of its water reserves. • Half of China’s 617 largest cities face water deficits. • 20% of world’s population but only 7% of its water.

4. Water Conflicts • Conflicts between up and downstream communities, factory and farm workers, environmentalists and economic planners, even different cities. • Case: One farmer who used to grow 35 bushels of wheat a year told the Washington Post that he stopped raising wheat when water was directed from a local river to a petrochemical plant. He said he now has trouble supplying enough drinking water to his family and has to use a well dug over 100 meters and shares it with other families to get the water. • Economic growth causes the pollution of many reservoirs e.g. Guanting reservoir. • Beijing now gets 75% of its water from underground aquifers, drilling to 3km below the surface 5times that of in 1990.

5. China’s Water Problems • Northern China’s chronic droughts ravage farmland creating further issues. • The birth place of Chinese civilisation, The Yellow River, has become polluted and can no longer supply drinking water or tourist attractions. • Rapid growth of megacities has drained underground aquifers that took thousands of years to fill.

6. South-North Water Diversion Project • Involves drawing water from rivers in the south and supplying it to drier northern regions. • Already taken 50 years for plans to be agreed upon, and is expected to take the same amount to construct. (Was first proposed in 1952 as an ambitious scheme intended to ease the growing water shortages in cities such as Beijing and Tianjin) • Expected to cost $62 bn • Will eventually divert 44.8 billion cubic metres of water annually • Will link china’s four main rivers: Yangtze, Yellow river, Huaihe and Haihe.

7. Problems: South-North Water Diversion • Has provoked many environmental concerns; principally concerning the loss of historical monuments, displacement of people (some claim they were forced to sign relocation agreements) and destruction of arable land. • The are many plans to develop industry along proposed diversion- may lead to polluted water. As a result, $80m is being spent on the development of water treatment facilities. • Some feel it will lead to a waste of water due to evaporation. • The diversion will cause problems downstream. Currently 150 million people are dependent on the river in India and Bangladesh. The diversion will affect their livlihood.

8. Aquifers • Aquifers are underground layers of porous rock that contain water. • Shallow aquifers are quickly replenished by rainwater. • Estimated 100 times more water than surface water, enough to support billions for centuries. • Most found past 1 kilometre underground too deep to be economically viable for China. • In the past drilling deep for water was not seriously considered as it was expensive. With water shortages and the rising value of water, drilling for water is being considered more seriously. • Exploring for water has become much like oil as geologists are armed with the same technology used in China’s oil industry.

9. Rivers • Yangtze River, third longest river in the world, longest in China. • Dams and thousands of kilometres of dykes built for flood control and land reclamation in the 1950s. • More than 100 lakes cut off from the river and dried up, causing problems. • In 2002, initiative launched to reclaim these lakes. • The areas south of the Yangtze have 80.9% of all China’s water resources, though comprising only 36.5% if the country’s total territory.

10. Three Gorges Dam • 2,335 metres long, 181 metres tall. • Generates between 20.3 GW and 22.5 GW of electricity. Similar to 30 million horsepower. • Just downstream of the Three Gorges. • Is degrading water quality upstream on the Yangtze (the eastern and central regions, coincidentally the poorest) due to the dispersal of pollutants. Has caused river banks collapses, flooding and landslides.

11. Pollution • Pollution is a major issue. • Taihu Blue Algae Bloom, thick layer of blue-green algae covered Lake Tai in Jiangsu province. Chemical fertilisers identified as a significant cause. • Greenpeace China tested the water in 2008, of 25 samples, 20 were not only too polluted for human consumption, but also too polluted to be used in water plants or factories. • 90% of cities groundwater is polluted and 75% of rivers and lakes are polluted. • 700million people drink contaminated water every day.

12. Solutions • December 2010 announced that $30 billion will be invested in water saving projects. Planned to reduce the impact of drought, flooding and other natural disasters in grain production. • Training of more dam builders and hydraulic engineers. • Yangtze river retreat • Pollution issue to be addressed with increased investment and new creation of waste treatment facilities.