China risks the world's most severe water crisis unless it takes urgent measures to save water in its booming cities, state media yesterday quoted a senior official as saying.
"We must take precautionary measures before the urban water ecosystem collapses," the China Daily quoted Vice Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing (仇保興) as saying.
The crisis is caused by widespread drought, pollution, rapid economic growth and waste, the newspaper said yesterday.
Per capita water availability in China was about one-quarter of the world average and expected to fall further, the report said.
"[China] is facing a water crisis more severe and urgent than any other country in the world," Qiu was quoted as saying. "We've got to solve the problem before it is too late."
Less than half the waste water generated in Chinese cities was treated and recycled, a figure the government aimed to raise to 60 to 70 percent in five years, Qiu told a news conference on Monday.
And 20 percent of water supplies in domestic cities was lost through leaky pipes, Qian Yi (
Heavy pollution of rivers across China makes much of its available water undrinkable.
"Short-sightedness in economic development accompanied with environmental destruction is still widespread in China," Qian said.
Water shortages had struck several cities in Guangdong Province due to months of drought that had destroyed farmland, dried up rivers and reservoirs and allowed salt water to wash upstream and contaminate fresh water supplies, the China Daily said.
The drought in Guangdong was likely to persist, with little rainfall predicted until spring, and was moving toward the heavily populated Pearl River Delta region, a booming manufacturing hub, it said.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS