The Challenge of Water Shortage Problems in China

According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), China’s average freshwater availability is between 1,700 and 2,500 cubic meters per person per year. This level of availability has become a “vulnerability” with respect to the global standard, and is also lower than the availability level in the majority of countries. China’s economy has been developing rapidly over the past 30 years and a significant number of natural water resources have been over exploited and polluted courtesy of rapid urbanization and industrialization without proper urban planning. Consequently the water supply has been further tightened while water shortages and pollution have been exacerbated.

Figure1: Global Fresh water availability cubic metres per person and per year, 2007

Source: United Nation Environmental Program

Currently, two-thirds of China’s cities face water shortage issues. Typically the problem occurs in one of three situations: firstly, due to limited water resources; secondly, due to deficiencies in the water supply system; thirdly, due to pollution of water resources. Two decades ago the under supply of water amounted to 30-40 billion cubic metres. In 2012 the under supply amounted to 50-60 billion cubic meters. So the magnitude of water shortages has increased by approximately 60%.

Figure 1, shows that the total annual quantity of fresh water sources in China was between 2,000 and 3,000 billion cubic metres from the year 2000 to 2011, however, the annual national water use has increased steadily since 2003 to reach a total of 608 billion cubic meters in 2011. This is a warning signal to the Chinese authorities that existing water resources will not be enough to accommodate increasing future demand.

Aside from increasing demand for water, another issue is the uneven distribution of water resources. Some provinces and cities have insufficient water resources to meet current demand (see table I). For example in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Jiangsu water consumption per capita is already higher than water resources available per capita. The urban population of China has increased rapidly in recent years and the national urbanization rate is higher than 50%. The fast growth rate of water demand in daily life forces has forced a structural change in water use and distribution. In the past, agricultural water use accounted for 80% of total water use, but this proportion has fallen to 60% in recent years. Water use in daily life has increased from 10% to 20%, and industrial water use has increased from 13%-14% to 20%.

Figure 2: National water resource and water usage of China

Table I: Water Resources and Use in Different Chinese Provinces and Cities 2011

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China