问答题

Write an essay on Water Shortage in China and Suggestions on Remedies. The article below can be used to support your writing in facts and certain remedies. 2) Not less than 150 words. Water Crisis Looming for China Surging water consumption in China’s growing cities and towns, coupled with reckless industrial and agricultural use, is straining the nation’s already strapped water supplies, the government and several international organizations warn. China’s water resources amount to the fifth-largest in the world, and its winding rivers have cradled civilizations for over five millennia. But with the country’s population swelling to 1.3 billion, many of China’s rivers, including the legendary Yellow River, are drying up, and the water table is falling. The international groups say dwindling water supplies could disrupt China’ s food security, public health, environment, and economic growth. "China’s problem is "brown" poverty. If you look at a map, large swaths of the country are totally brown nothing can grow there," said Deepak Bhattasali, the World Bank’ s chief economist in Beijing. "If this brown spreads, so will hunger, and industrial growth will slow. The country’s annual per capital water supply is only 2,200 cubic meters, 25% of the global average, according to the World Bank. The government says that by 2030, the water supply is expected to fall below 1,700 cubic meters per person, which the World Bank calls dangerously low. During the same period, water demand is expected to more than triple, from 120 billion tons a year to 400 billion tons. Using uncharacteristically strong language, the World Bank recently warned that the situation "will soon become unmanageable, with catastrophic consequences for future generations." China does not act like a nation in the midst of a water shortage, Taps run freely because the government subsidizes water supplies, especially to farmers. For industry, China’ s water consumption efficiency is one-tenth that of developed countries. And only a fraction of China’ s industrially used water is recycled, mostly because local governments are loath to burden local firms with costly recycling roles. A senior Chinese official in charge of water resources has said China loses more than 30 billion cubic meters of water every year, causing a $28 billion loss in industrial output. But he says he is committed to making the tough decisions needed to correct the situation. Water conservation and recycling programs are being introduced, and the government has said it will raise the price of water supplied to farmers and industry. Steps are being taken to curb rapid deforestation and soil erosion across the country. Hydropower, which creates large evaporating reservoirs, is increasingly being complemented with wind power. China is on track to generate 10% of its power from wind and solar energy by 2010. Programs to desalinate seawater using solar energy are also in place in several cities. But none of this is likely to be enough, analysts say. Lester Brown of the World watch Institute, an environmental watchdog based in Washington, D.C. warns that China’s water problems will have global repercussions. Brown calculates that shortages will cut China’s annual agricultural output by 9 million tons, forcing it to buy grain. This will push up world food prices.