Water is one of the most necessary needs of mankind and our
human body contains about 60% of water inside our cells so it’s so important to
live. With rapid development of industry and agriculture in addition to the
growing population, water has been increasingly consumed continually. Rosegrant,
Cai, and Ximing noted that on 2003 world’s consumption of water for
non-irrigation uses will rise dramatically by 62 percent from 1995 to 2025.
Moreover, due to rapid growth of population water use per capita in domestic
consumption will rise by 71 percent, more than 90 percent of which will be
consumed in developing countries. So the increasing demand for water causes the
shortage of water sources for industry, agriculture, and household daily needs.
Therefore, the growth of population and industry activities has expanded water
pollution. Yongming (1992) said that because of the quick expansion of the
economy, the amount of waste water discharge each year is mounting, in which
only 22 percent of total waste water is treated by water treatment techniques
before being discharged directly into
rivers, lakes, and seas.
China depends on irrigated land to produce 70 percent of the
grain for its huge population of 1.2 billion people (Brown & Halweil, 1998,
p. 10). This number significantly draws more of water to supply the needs of
its fast-growing cities and industries. In the research of Yongming (1992),
water pollution started extensively in the late 1950s. Water shortage is
considered as a key problem in the region because as rivers run dry and
aquifers are depleted, the emerging concern sharply raise the country’s demand
for grain importation, implying a total import needs beyond export supplies.
With its booming economy, water shortage and water pollution poses a rising
threat to world food security. Over 150 cities have severe lack of water
supply, including Beijing. And because China highly depends on water for
irrigation, these problems restrict the sustainable development of society and
economy (Cheng & Song, 2009).
In order to solve the problems of water shortage and water
pollution as well as improve its environmental condition, China has passed
several important laws relating to environmental protection and efficient
measures of water-saving and waste water reuse (Cheng & Song, 2009). The
Chinese government has also setup water saving management systems to save
water. Accordingly, with technological advantages, authorities in the region
have undertaken measures, such as sprinkling and drip irrigation for
agriculture. These events made a potential increase of water saving, recycling
of cooling and processing of water for the development of most industrial
sectors (Yongming, 1992). Another way to solve the problem is through water
diversion. Cheng and Song (2009) said
that this process is a vital means to solve the water scarcity in the north and
flooding in the south. Because of frequent the occurrence of enormous floods often,
this has been established to regulate the flood disasters in the region of
China and provide a sustainable development of the economy and society (Li
& Wilkinson, 2006). Instead of using fresh water in the industry, waste
water discharged is used for construction. With that, water sources in China
could be conserved and there would be sufficient for the needs of industry,
agriculture, and household.
References
Brown &
Halweil (1998). China’s Water Shortage could Shake World Food Security: An
abrupt decline in the supply of irrigation water to China’s farmers has aroused
growing concern in the world’s capitals. Retrieved January 7, 2012 from World
Watch:
http://wefts.org.au/downloads/policy/China's%20Water%20Shortage%20lester_brian.pdf.
Cheng, S. &
Song, H. (2009). Conservation buffer systems for water quality security in
South to North Water Transfer Project in China: an approach review. Frontiers of Forestry in China, 4 (4):
394-401.
Li, W. &
Wilkinson, S. (2006). Potential for international business consultancies in
wastewater treatment in China: Evidence from New Zealand. Journal of Technology Management in China, 1 (3): 292-303.
Rosegrant, M.W.,
Cai, X., & Cline, S.A. (2003). Will the World run? Global water and food
security. Environment, 45 (7), 24.
Yongming, X.
(1992). An Overview of Water, Water Pollution and Control in China. Management of Environmental Quality, 3
(3), 18.
