China's Water Crisis (Voices of Asia)

translated by Nancy Yang Lui and Lawrence R. Sullivan

China’s Water Crisis (Zhongguo shui weiji) is the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date-source of information on the enormous water resource crisis confronting the People’s Republic of China. The author describes in great detail the floods, water scarcity, and pollution problems existing in all seven of China’s major drainage basins—large and small—and proposes workable solutions for sustainable management.

Of greatest concern to Mr. Ma is the condition of China’s two major rivers, the Yellow and the Yangzi. The very existence of the Yellow River is threatened by massive reductions in water flow caused by a variety of man-made programs while chronic soil erosion resulting from defor-estation together with dam construction has led to a cycle of flood and drought in the Yangzi River basin. The same issues are reflected in China’s smaller rivers. Mr. Ma documents the persistent drought conditions in the southeast, the impact of pollutants on the Tibetan plateau, the defects in China’s large-scale reservoirs, steadily diminishing underground water tables, and the growing abuse of aquifers for urbanization and industrialization.

Despite his alarming findings, Mr. Ma feels that there is hope if major remedial programs are put in place very soon. Otherwise, he paints a compelling picture of a nation which will experience—over the next several decades—dramatic deterioration in its clean water.