The reasons of water scarcity can be divided into natural and human factor.
For natural factor, there is uneven distribution of water resources. Due to its large and diverse geography, China has a wide spectrum of terrains and climate zones. Water is abundant in the South but extremely scarce in the North.
In North China, there is high temperature and low rainfall. High summer temperature is due to continental climate. Also, hot dry winds occasionally blow towards Loess Plateau from Gobi Desert in the north. Summer temperature of Less Plateau is high, e.g. Xian ever reached 42.5℃. High summer temperature causes the high evaporation and lead to dryness. The precipitation reduces. Finally, it causes the expansion of dry areas and drought. Water scarcity becomes worse.
Since there is semi-arid climate, there is low and unreliable rainfall. Mean annual rainfall in North China is only 400-500mm, but mean annual evaporation reaches 1500mm in China, resulting in water deficit.
Second, long term and short term climate changes (e.g. global warming and El Nino) may lead to dryness. Global warming rises
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global temperature, resulting in fostering evaporation and changing pattern of precipitation. For example, glaciers covering China’s Qinghai-Tibet plateau, which is the source of water for the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers are shrinking by 7 % a year due to global warming. It also dries up of numerous lakes that feed the region’s rivers. The glacier’s seasonal melting increases short-term water supply, but water availability reduces when glacier melts completely. It causes long term water shortage. In 2010, El Nino in China causes an increase in temperature and thus evaporation in spring. The drought has been referred to as the worst in a century in Southwestern China. The reservoirs and lakes dried up and the water level of upper Yangtze dropped, causing water shortage problem. For human factor, farmers use improper farming method to grow crop. Because of rapid population growth since 1950s, the demand for food increase. Overgrazing, over-cultivation, improper use of irrigation and over-irrigation water causes soil erosion and silting the capacity of river and amount of groundwater reduces. For example, monoculture which is the agricultural practice of involving planting one specie of crop on the same piece of land repeatedly. Plantings absorb large amount of water and thus groundwater reduces. Secondly, water consumption increases. Since the population growth, the usage of water increases. For agriculture, agriculture is a vital industry in China that ranks first in worldwide farm output. Major water sector of water consumption in china, accounting for 61%.There is large consumption of irrigation water. For industry, China ranks second worldwide in industrial output for supporting the country’s economy and development .China accounted for over 50% of world steel production in 2013.It require large amount of cooling water for iron and steel industries For daily life, there is intensive use of underground water in large cities Thirdly, water pollution leads a large amount of water cannot be used.
Due to industrial waste ,domestic wastes and agriculture wastes entering into water source, Chinese government reporting that nearly 60 percent of China’s groundwater is polluted. It also leads the decrease in water quality. A large amount of water cannot be used and thus foster the water scarcity problem in China.
Fourthly, water waste worsens water scarcity. Water is cheap in China by international standard which is much cheaper than its real cost. Industry uses 4 to 10 time more water per units of production than the average in industrialized nations. Since the price is low, people do not save the water. Also, water leakage in water distribution networks is seriously in China. The total loss of 5 × 106 m3 of water per year (Chen et al., 2008). It also leads to water
pollution.
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
China economy has been falling for many years. Part of this downfall is lack of clean water. You know this, but know one in this world can’t live without water ,so that means water is very important. Climate change, Industrialization, and Government policy all contribute to the chinese water crisis. Of these, the biggest driver is the government policy. The government in China has a strict policy that does not allow the people to have water because China is not using enough money for their water.
In conclusion, this work has evaluated several solutions of the water shortage in China: water usage efficiency improvement, adopting the local agencies on controlling water resources and reasonable water pricing. It has been revealed that all of proposed solutions might be effective, but they should be properly applied and, probably, their combining can contribute to the combating the water scarcity in China. However, some of other solutions should have been evaluated, such as water recycling, and this work might become a base for further studies.
“Over the last three decades, China has experienced breakneck growth, changing from a poor, agricultural country to one of the leading industrial powers of the 21st century. Yet water scarcity has the potential to undermine China’s transformation.”, BGE DBQ Online 2017. Water is a very important natural resource that the United States thankfully has access to everyday. In China, however, the economy is being plagued with an extreme growing crisis of water scarcity which has major complications on daily life. Three major factors that impact and make the situation in China worse is the growth in water pollution(document E), global warming and its effect on the water supply(document A), and lastly the way water is used throughout China( Document
This is a pattern due to the cold water climates. The arid climates are existent mostly in the center of a continent or beneath a continents rain shadow of a large mountain range. The rain shadow is land on a said of a mountain that is very dry because the mountain forces warm air higher into the sky, which cools it and it falls as rain, but only on one side of the mountain. Most of the arid areas or regions do not have regular seasons. An example would be the Sahara Desert which is always hot and dry. Some Arid places do have changes in temperature depending on the latitude and the surrounding climates. This would mean they have two seasons, which would be summer and winter. The temperatures of these locations can reach as high as 130 degrees or as negative as 30 degrees. This temperature also depends on the location at which it is located on the planet. These hot deserts have a poor rate of precipitation due to the lack of water to be evaporated. In order to have an Arid climate there must be less than 10 inches of water which most deserts do. Some of these deserts have less than 10 inches of rain a year.The causes of these poor climates would be the cold currents carrying dry air, so these lands are blasted with dry air most of the
The changes in the quantity and timing of precipitation and the availability of water will profoundly affect people and other life forms. Ecosystems will change and wildlife behavior and habitat as well as crop yields will eventually be affected. Climate change will also have an impact on water-related economic activity – not just agricultural methods, for example skiing areas, may experience decreased snowfall, having an adverse impact on the economies of mountain towns and cities.
...management than scarcity of that resource. In some cases up to 50% water in urban areas, and 60% of the water used for agriculture is wasted through evaporation and loss. Logging and land conversion to yield to the demands of human beings have been reduced to half the world's forests, which has increased soil erosion and water scarcity.
Developing our national economy, especially industry, requires a great amount of natural resources, such as land, water, oil, coal, gas and iron. However, the natural resources are limited and decline very quickly when a large population exploits them everyday. Take fresh water as an example, in 1990, 58% of Chinese cities (http://www.cass.net.cn/y_sjr/y_cn_sjr_334.htm) suffered from the insufficiency of water. It not only brings great disadvantages to people's daily life, but also has a passive influence on the economic development. Released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the economic loss caused by the insufficiency of water is 250 billion RMB per year, including 230 billion lost industrial output and 20 billion agricultural losses.
The main sources of water in Bhutan are natural spring water, natural rivers/streams and deep groundwater and water quality is reported as first class conditions expect at localized urban areas. Four major river sinks are Amochhu, Wangchhu, Punatsangchhu and Manas. The main activities that cause water pollutions in Bhutan are ongoing development and human actives such as urbanization, rapid growth of population, more hydro electric projects construction and other infrastructure development and industization activities which produce huge amount of waste leading contamination of water bodies in the country degrading quality of safe drinking water of the nation. Human waste and solid waste dumping in the rivers and urbanization waste water.
Compare to other region, they also have water problem but their main issues are about trees. Too many trees are cutting down in other to make charcoal and all that burning wood or waste can pollutes or damage the atmosphere.
Many scientific studies also show increases in the intensity, duration, and extent of droughts, higher atmospheric temperatures, warmer sea surface temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and diminishing glaciers and snowpack. The bottom line is that causes of climate change, such as greenhouse gas emissions, will have to be minimized if people want to do as much as possible to solve the water crisis. Works Cited Water demand management: the case of Zaragoza, Spain Web 25 Nov. 2014. http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/pdf/final_report_swm_cities.pdf.
Water scarcity is harmful to human life because when water is poorly managed throughout the world, those who need water are deprived of nutrients they truly need, causing them to die. This eventually affects the global population. Therefore, many experts have proposed several solutions such as the LifeSaver Bottle, TrojanUVPhox treatment system, and Waste Water Recycling. The problem of water scarcity has increasingly spread throughout the world as of yet, The UN reports that within the next half- century up to 7 billion people in 60 countries which is more than the whole present population will face water scarcity (Sawin “Water Scarcity could Overwhelm the Next Generation”). As well, the demand for freshwater has tripled over the past 50 years, and is continuing to rise as a result of population growth and economic development.
a change in the water cycle. Some places may experience more rain. Warmer temperatures will
“Water is the lifeblood of this planet. Every time a good is bought or sold there is a virtual exchange of water. Every time we interact with water, we change it, redirect it, or otherwise alter its state. We have never learned how to efficiently manage water.”(Cluckie, 2009) Ian Cluckie, Professor of Hydrology and Water Management, emphasizes the fact that humans can’t survive without water. Although water is a renewable resource that can replenish under hydrological cycles, our intervention has interrupted its natural cycle causing its supply to decrease.(Cluckie, 2009)
Cherain, T., Unni, K., and Sophie, L. 2010. China – India water shortage. Bloomberg News. http://www.grailresearch.com/pdf/ContenPodsPdf/Water-The_India_Story.pdf (accessed November 1, 2010).