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The New York Times is continuing to cover
the environmental problems of China. The country has more people,
which use more water. They have more growth, which uses more
water. The water is used inefficiently, and much of the rest is polluted. (Read more).
Industry in China uses 3 to 10 times more water, depending on the product, than industries in developed nations.
The water table is falling drastically.
Near Shijiazhuang, Wang Jingyan’s farming village depends on wells that are more than 600 feet deep.
The rivers dry up.
“You see all these streams with bridges, but there is no water.”
...A century or so ago, the North China Plain was a healthy ecosystem,
scientists say. Farmers digging wells could strike water within eight
feet. Streams and creeks meandered through the region. Swamps, natural
springs and wetlands were common.
Pollution spoils much of the remaining supplies.
Water pollution is so widespread that regulators say a major
incident occurs every other day. Municipal and industrial dumping has
left sections of many rivers “unfit for human contact.”
The water pollution certainly harms the Pacific Ocean, as Chinese rivers empty into it.
The
air pollution, however, affects America and other countries directly
every year. A large portion of California's particulate and
mercury pollution, in the air, is from China. It is the infamous Chinese Brown Cloud. See this link for more photos on pollution from that country's industry.
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