scholarly journals Research on Water Scarcity in North China

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhe Fu
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
North China

scholarly journals Virtual versus real water transfers within China

2005 ◽  
Vol 361 (1469) ◽  
pp. 835-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Ma ◽  
Arjen Y Hoekstra ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Ashok K Chapagain ◽  
Dangxian Wang
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
North China ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Water Transfer ◽  
Qualitative Description ◽  
The North ◽  
Food Deficit ◽  
Virtual Water Flow ◽  
North Water

North China faces severe water scarcity—more than 40% of the annual renewable water resources are abstracted for human use. Nevertheless, nearly 10% of the water used in agriculture is employed in producing food exported to south China. To compensate for this ‘virtual water flow’ and to reduce water scarcity in the north, the huge south–north Water Transfer Project is currently being implemented. This paradox—the transfer of huge volumes of water from the water-rich south to the water-poor north versus transfer of substantial volumes of food from the food-sufficient north to the food-deficit south—is receiving increased attention, but the research in this field has not yet reached further than rough estimation and qualitative description. The aim of this paper is to review and quantify the volumes of virtual water flows between the regions in China and to put them in the context of water availability per region. The analysis shows that north China annually exports about 52 billion m 3 of water in virtual form to south China, which is more than the maximum proposed water transfer volume along the three routes of the Water Transfer Project from south to north.

scholarly journals Reconstructed natural runoff suggests imbalance in water scarcity between upstream and downstream regions of China's river basins

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyao Zhou ◽  
Yonghui Yang ◽  
Zhuping Sheng
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
North China ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
Water Withdrawal ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Water Accessibility

Abstract. The increasing conflicts for water resources appeal for chronological insight into the imbalance water scarcity between upstream and downstream regions. While the changes of water scarcity in whole basins have been widely analysed, the divergent development of water scarcity between upstream and downstream regions received little concern. Here non-anthropologically intervened runoff (natural runoff) was first reconstructed in China's 67 basins for the period 1961–2010 using the Fu–Budyko framework and then systematically evaluated in comparison with the observed data. Divergent changes in water scarcity, including water stress and water shortage, between upstream and downstream regions were analyzed for the period of 1980s–2000s. The results showed that surface water withdrawal rapidly increased from 140.8 billion m3 (9 % of natural runoff) in 1980s to 189.7 billion m3 (14 %) in 2000s, with 73 % increase occurring in North China (North of the Yangtze River). This led to severe water scarcity of approximately 0.4 billion people (29 % of population) in 2000s in comparison with only ~ 0.2 billion people (17 %) in the 1980s, with all increase of water scarcity-threaten population in North China. Since 1990s, the increase of upstream water withdrawal came along with the decrease of downstream surface water availability in most northern basins, leading to slower increase in upstream water scarcity and faster increase in downstream water scarcity. Even though restrict water management policy restrained upstream surface water withdrawal in some northern basins over latest decade, the effect of such a reduction in upstream surface water withdrawal was too little to stop the continued decline in downstream surface water accessibility. Meanwhile, semi-arid/humid basins are following in the footsteps of arid basins by rapidly increasing upstream surface water withdrawal. The Chinese case study provides an all-round observation of the imbalance upstream–downstream development in water scarcity, as well as the experiences and lessons from different water management strategies.

China: The South–North Water Transfer Project—is it justified?

Water Policy ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Berkoff
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
North China Plain ◽  
North China ◽  
Water Transfer ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
The North China Plain ◽  
North Water ◽  
Stressed Region

The South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP), if fully developed, could divert 40-50 km3/yr from the Yangtse basin to the North China plain, alleviating water scarcity for 300-325M people living in what even then will be a highly water-stressed region. Construction of the next stage, diverting up to 20 km3 at a cost of about $17,000M (including $7000M in ancillary costs), is to start in 2002/3. A recent World Bank study suggests that the project is economically attractive. This conclusion has been disputed by the World Wildlife Fund (now the Worldwide Fund for Nature). This paper concludes that little confidence can be placed in either of these analyses. It therefore seeks to throw light on how the project fits within a broader regional and agricultural development setting. The project is hugely expensive, and would at the margin tend to preserve water in low value agriculture and require the resettlement of upwards of 300,000 people. On the other hand, the pace and scale of socio-economic change in China are without precedent, and adjustment problems on the North China plain are greatly exacerbated by water scarcity. Reallocation of water from irrigation to municipal and industrial uses or to the environment is socially divisive and in some instances physically impracticable. The transfer project would greatly alleviate these difficulties. It is these arguments (which are ultimately political and pragmatic), rather than those based strictly on economic or food security concerns, that make the Government's decision to proceed with the project fully understandable.

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