China Faces Annual Water Shortfall Of Up To 40 Billion Cubic Metres

WATERWORLD

Despite increased water flows from the melting Himalayas China still faces a critical lack of water to support it's people and industriess. (File image of the main Three Gorges dam)

Beijing (AFP) Nov 13, 2004
China is facing water shortages of 30-40 billion cubic metres a year, state media said Saturday, threatening public health and economic development.

Ministry of Construction official Zhang Qingfeng said some 110 cities in China are "severely short of water," while another 400 are also facing shortages, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

More than 20 million rural residents are also suffering from inadequate supplies of drinking water, Zhang said.

"Therefore, imposing limits on water usage and controlling pollution in cities, conserving limited resources ... have become an important task in the country's strategy for sustainable development," Zhang was quoted as saying.

In 40 percent of China's cities, at least 12 percent of the water supply is lost through leaking pipelines and excessive use, state media earlier reported.

China has resorted to a variety of measures to address growing shortages from local well-digging projects to the multi-billion dollar "South-to-North Water Diversion Project" to divert up to 48 billion cubic meters of water yearly from the Yangtze River valley through three canals to the north of the country.

China's break-neck economic development has resulted in surging demand for water and power and experts have warned that the worsening situation could become a major problem impeding the economic development of the country.

All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

WATERWORLD

Tiger Workshop Puts Focus On Space For African Water Management

Pretoria, South Africa (ESA) Nov 04, 2004
A TIGER Initiative offer to make ESA satellite data available for monitoring African water resources sparked an enthusiastic take-up by researchers across the continent, and beyond it. Some 95 proposals have been received, 65 of which are accepted for discussion during next week's annual TIGER Workshop in Pretoria, South Africa.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.