The water resources of China are affected by both severe water shortages and severe growing population and rapid economic development as well as lax environmental oversight have increased in a large scale the water demand and pollution. China has responded by measures such as rapidly building out the water infrastructure and increasing regulation as well as exploring a number of further technological solutions.
Due to continual economic growth and population size, China is one of the world's leading water consumers. China withdraws roughly 600 billion cubic meters of water on a yearly basis. The country surpasses the United States by 120 billion cubic meters and falls short of India by 160 billion cubic meters. For this reason, China's domestic policy remains one of the most vital on a national and international scale.
Issues relating to water quality and quantity are likely primary limiting factors in China's sustainable economic and infrastructural development.
Water quantity
Supply
China's surface water resources include 2598.44 cubic kilometers and groundwater resources amounted to 792.44 cubic kilometers as of 2022. As pumping water draws water from nearby rivers, the total available resource is less than the sum of surface and groundwater, and this amounted to 2708.81 cubic kilometers. Circa 80% of these resources are in the South of China.FAO Aquastat:China Profile, Version 2010 In 2016, 82% of China's total water supply was surface water, but only 18% was groundwater. The northern part of China depends more on groundwater than the southern part because of less precipitation.
Progress has been made over the last three decades in providing its citizens with improved drinking water. According to the UN, almost a quarter of the world's progress in this regard occurred in China, with 457 million citizens seeing enhanced water availability and quality from 1990 to 2010. The UN attribute this progress to increased water pipe systems, highlighting the importance of domestic policy.
Water scarcity
The World Resources Institute lists many of the more populated areas of China as experiencing high (40% - 80% of renewable ground water extracted yearly) or extremely high (>80%) water stress. The WRI has also evaluated a similar portion of the country in the range of 3 to 5 on their overall water risk index, a measurement accounting for a variety of qualitative and quantitative evaluations. Issues relating to water quality and quantity are likely primary limiting factors in China's sustainable economic and infrastructural development.
In 2022, the Yangtze river basin suffered a severe drought, causing the river to drop to its lowest level since 1865. Hydropower plants in Sichuan were forced to shutdown or reduce their output.
Demand
China's per capita water usage is just over a quarter of the global average, which has been described as water poverty. China's population is roughly 18% of the global total but only has 6% of the world's water resources available.
Total water usage was 599.82 cubic kilometers in 2022, or about 20% of renewable resources. In 2006, 626,000 square kilometers were irrigated. +Annual water consumption by use (2022)UseUsage (km³)%Domestic90.5715.1Industrial96.8416.2Power plant cooling (included in industrial)48.27 -Agriculture378.1363.0Managed ecological recharge34.255.7
Historically water usage in China has been characterized as inefficient, although since 1997 water usage per 10,000 RMB of GDP and water usage per 10,000 RMB of industrial added value has significantly decreased. Between 1997 and 2022, water usage per irrigated mu of agricultural land has decreased from 492 to 364 m³. Overall the per capita water usage remained stable.
Storage The 753 large-sized reservoirs and 3896 medium-sized reservoirs that provided statistics in 2022 totaled to 418.07 billion m³ storage capacity at the end of that year. For the same date, lakes reported 144.99 billion m³ of water storage.
Water balance
Over-extraction of groundwater and falling water tables are big problems in China, particularly in the north, where the area of irrigated land has increased significantly. According to the Ministry of Construction, preliminary statistics show that there are more than 160 areas nationwide where groundwater has been over-exploited with an average annual groundwater depletion of more than 10 billion cubic meters. As a result, more than 60,000 square kilometers of ground surface have sunk with more than 50 cities suffering from serious land subsidence.China Development Gateway: Ensuring the Safety of Urban Water Supply, Facilitating the Frugal and Appropriate Consumption of Urban Water, Ministry of Construction, August 22, 2006 MOC Flooding is also still a major problem.
In a Xinhua article from 2002, Chinese experts warned of future or current water shortages. Water resource usage was expected to peak in 2030 when the population peaks. Areas north of the Yangtze river were particularly. Northern China had used 10,000-year-old aquifers which had resulted in ground cracking and subsidence in some regions.China Warned of Water Crisis by 2030, "china.org.cn", June 6, 2002
A 2005 article in China Daily stated that out of 514 rivers surveyed in 2000, 60 were dry. Water volume in lakes had decreased by 14%. Many wetlands had decreased in size.Experts warn of water crisis, China Daily, May 20, 2005
Water transfers There is a large mismatch between supply availability and demand of water resources in China. Eastern China accounts for 42% of the population and over half of the national GDP, but holds just 18% of the total water resources.
Large-scale water transfers have long been advocated by Chinese planners as a solution to the country's water woes. The South–North Water Transfer Project was developed primarily to divert water from the Yangtze river. The project is to help alleviate water shortages for citizens in these areas in the process of sustaining water consumption in sectors that use large sums of water, such as industry and agriculture. Construction of a multipurpose freshwater coastal reservoir to harness the Yangtze River flood water going waste to the sea is feasible to address on a large scale the water shortages in north China and renewable electricity/energy storage requirements.
Regionally, the Luanhe-Tianjin water diversion project and the Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project were developed to solve spatial supply-demand mismatches.
The development or diversion of major transboundary rivers originating in China, such as the Brahmaputra River and the Mekong River, could be a source on tension with China's neighbors. For example, after building two dams upstream, China is building at least three more on the Mekong, inflaming passions in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. In a book titled "Tibet's Waters Will Save China" a group of Chinese ex-officials have championed the northward rerouting of the waters of the Brahmaputra as an important lifeline for China in a future phase of South-North Water Transfer Project. Such a diversion could fuel tension with India and Bangladesh, if no prior agreement were reached on sharing the river's water.China Aims for Bigger Share of South Asia's Water Lifeline, by Brahma Chellaney, Japan Times, June 26, 2007
On a smaller scale, some of the waters of the Irtysh River, which would otherwise flow into Kazakhstan, Russia, and the Arctic Ocean, have been diverted into the arid areas of north-central Xinjiang via the Irtysh–Karamay–Ürümqi Canal.
Desalination
Due to the water problems, as well as for future exports, China is building up its desalination technological abilities and plans to create an indigenous industry. Some cities have introduced extensive water conservation and recycling programs and technologies. By 2021, 115 seawater desalination plants operated in China, with a desalination capacity of over 1.5 million m³/day.
Water quality The quality of groundwater or surface water is a major problem in China, be it because of man-made water pollution or natural contamination.
China's extraordinary economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization, coupled with inadequate investment in basic water supply and treatment infrastructure, has resulted in widespread water pollution.Wu et al. (1999). "Water Pollution and Human Health in China." Environmental Health Perspectives, vol.107, no.4. pp.251-256.)
Pollution
Deterioration of drinking water quality continues to be a major problem in China. Continuous emissions from manufacturing is the largest contributor to lowered drinking quality across the People's Republic, but introduction of poorly treated sewage, industrial spills, and extensive use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides have proven to be major contributors as well. Furthermore, these water quality issues couple with seasonal scarcity of water to spark endemic water shortages, which frequently affect millions of people to some extent.100 Chinese cities face water crisis, The Guardian, June 8, 2005
According to China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) in 2006, 60% of the country's rivers suffer from pollution to such an extent that they cannot be safely used as drinking water sources."China pays water price for progress", Water 21, Magazine of the International Water Association, August 2007, p. 6 According to the 2008 State of the Environment Report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the successor agency of SEPA, pollution of specific rivers is as follows:
The Pearl River and the Yangtze River had "good water quality"; The Songhua River was "slightly polluted" (it was "moderately polluted" in 2006); The Liaohe River, the Huai River, and the Yellow River were "moderately polluted" (another translation says they "had poor water quality"); and the Haihe River which flows through Beijing and Tianjin was "badly polluted".Ministry of Environmental Protection:The State of the Environment of China in 2008, June 5, 2009
A 2006 article by the Chinese Embassy in the UK stated that approximately 300 million nationwide have no access to clean water. Almost 90% of underground water in cities are affected by pollution and as well as 70% of China's rivers and lakes.Miao Hong (2006). "China battles pollution amid full-speed economic growth." Chinese Embassy (UK), September 29, 2006. Archived from [ the original 28 March 2007.
A 2008 report about the Yellow River argued that severe pollution caused by factory discharges and sewage from fast-expanding cities has made one-third of the river unusable even for agricultural or industrial use. The report covered data more than 8,384 miles of the river, one of the longest waterways in the world, and its tributaries. The Yellow River Conservancy Committee, which surveyed more than 8,384 miles of the river in 2007, said 33.8% of the river system registered worse than level five. According to criteria used by the UN Environment Program, level five is unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture. The report said waste and sewage discharged into the system last year totaled 4.29 billion tonnes. Industry and manufacturing provided 70% of the discharge into the river, with households accounting for 23% and just over 6% coming from other sources.