¨Rural Water, Not City Smog, May Be China’s Pollution Nightmare¨

China´s air pollution has always been of great concern. Recently, due to industrial and urban development, water and soil pollution are becoming its major issues. China is the largest global economy and the world´s largest exporter.¹ Such economic growth and prosperity has come at a tremendous environmental cost, particularly to the aquatic environment, with 75% of surface water and 50% of underground water supplies becoming contaminated. ² 

The article ¨Rural Water, Not City Smog, May Be China´s Pollution Nightmare¨, authored by Chris Buckley and Vanessa Piao published on April 11^th 2016 in The New York Times, puts emphasis on how the water from underground wells near populated areas of China is unfit for human consumption or use. A report from the Chinese government recently revealed that 80.2% of China´s underground water is of poor quality.^3,4 This report clearly supports the statement by Prof. Dabo Guan, professor at the University of East Anglia in Britain, that ¨water is the biggest environmental issue in China¨³.  The health of the Chinese population has become increasingly affected by the different pollutants that have been found in underground water. Some statistics have shown that 70% of the population drinks water from underground sources ⁴. In the main editorial ¨Rural Water, Not City Smog, May Be China´s Pollution Nightmare¨ it is noted water pollutants, including manganese, fluoride, triazoles and heavy metals, analyzed in the government study were associated with 2,103 water wells in the Northeast, North, Northwest and central parts of China. However, a related news article⁴ published in China.org.cn also mentioned ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and some other toxic compounds as major pollutants. I found it interesting that studies of underground water in China did not only focus on water contaminants. The survey was also conducted in the classification of water resources in five categories (Class I, II, III, IV and V) IV being classifying water as unfit for human consumption and V at an even higher negative rating ³. A 32.9% of the wells located in Northern and Central China had grade IV and 47.3% grade V ³. The statistical table provided on groundwater quality evaluation results of each province of China placing Beijing on top as one of the provinces with the highest percent of water quality problems. ⁵ Ma Jun, an environmentalist and director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs is greatly concerned about the water crisis in China. Some solutions may be underway as Jun also mentioned that as a second option most of the cities are digging more and more to find clean water.

In a peer-reviewed journal article (Guan et al., 2014), the authors employed data sets and adopt structural decomposition analysis from the years 1992 to 2007 to investigate the causes of the water crisis in China⁶. They worked with four water indicators, freshwater consumption, discharge of COD in effluent water, cumulative COD, and dilution water. During the study period, they conducted a series of studies to establish the connection between all of these influential factors. Water input-output models were used to quantify the water consumption and pollution in different regions in China.  Another method that the authors employed in this study was a hydro-economic inventories analysis using an interlinking of four matrices (water inflows, economic production structures and technologies, environmental emissions, and impacts of discharged COD on hydrological systems). The main purpose was to determine the chemical characteristics of the pollutants. The structural decomposition method has been applied to analyze peoples’ demand and technology improvements that contribute to environmental changes through a mathematical equation. The last method that they used was the treating import columns in water that was based in the comparison of different input-output models. The data obtained with these different methods permitted the authors to conclude that the production of products and services represents 85%-90% of China´s total water consumption and COD discharge. They also found that over 60% of China´s annual water consumption is for agriculture. Jingsu and Shanghai are the Chinese coastal regions where water is type V+ (seriously polluted water) according to 2007 data and the manufacturing sector is the biggest contributor to cumulative water pollution.

In general, it could be concluded that after reading all the references, China´s authorities are really concerned about the water crisis that the country is facing. They are already finding ways to minimize environmental impact of economic development by creating different water management programs. It is important to mention that in 2011 China made one of its biggest investments, $600 billion directed for infrastructure development.¹ However, there are still barriers to effective water quality improvements. For example, a survey of wastewater treatment plants in the Henan Province in Central China shows that they are operated at much less than full capacity to save local government´s money thereby increasing local GDP growth ^7,8.

I believe that the New York Times article just touched on a few parts of the overall study. A language barrier was also present due to most of the literature that was referenced was not in English which made the information difficult to obtain; however Guan et al.⁶ has done an extremely good job analyzing all the influential factors of China´s water crisis. In addition to the statistical information and all the studies in both literatures, the authors could have included the kind of health problems that the Chinese citizens are having as a result of the polluted water. Due to these factors, a fair assessment of the articles would place them at a 7/10 for the New York Times article and a 9/10 for the Guan et al. (2014) article.

[1] CIA World Factbook - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html

[2] Wang, Y.; Sheng, L. X.; Li, K.; Sun, H. Y. Analysis of present situation of water resources and countermeasures for sustainable development in China. J. Water Resour. 2008, 19, 10−14 [in Chinese].

[3] ¨Rural Water, Not City Smog, May Be China’s Pollution Nightmare¨ The New York Times -By CHRIS BUCKLEY and VANESSA PIAO APRIL 11, 2016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/world/asia/china-underground-water-pollution.html?_r=0

[4] ¨80% underground water undrinkable in China¨ - By Chen Xia China.org.cn, April 11, 2016 - http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2016-04/11/content_38218704.htm

[5] 参编单位： 北京、天津、河北、山西、内蒙古、辽宁、吉林、黑龙江、江苏、 安徽、江西、山东、河南、湖北、甘肃、青海、宁夏、新疆水文水资 源（勘测）局（总站、中心），陕西地下水管理监测局 - http://www.mwr.gov.cn/zwzc/hygb/dxsdtyb/201604/P020160405539942030096.pdf

 [6]  ¨Lifting China’s Water Spell¨ -Dabo Guan, Klaus Hubacek,∥ Martin Tillotson, Hongyan Zhao, Weidong Liu, Zhu Liu,and Sai Liang -  Sep 29th 2014 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25226569

[7] YangY.Survey of urban sewage treatment plantXinhua News2014

[8] Wang, H.; Xue, H. Problems and Countermeasures of the Work to Prevent and Control Water Pollution in China. Environmental Science and Management 2009, 34 (2), 24−27 [in Chinese].