Looming water crisis in China

Cities in the North China Plain, such as Shijiazhuanh, are experiencing a boom in the local population due to local economic growth topping 11 percent. To support all these people, the underground water table below the plan is being reduced by roughly four feet a year. Municipal wells have already drained two-thirds of the local groundwater.

Water usage in China has quintupled since 1949, and leaders will increasingly face tough political choices as cities, industry and farming compete for a finite and unbalanced water supply.

According to Richard Evans, a hydrologist who has worked for the world bank and China’s Ministry of Water Resources, China will run out of groundwater within 30 years if the current rate of extraction continues.