China's water scarcity. This is a new security issue that could well emerge as a dominant force in China's future and the world's. China is facing an impending water shortage that has the potential to undermine its food production, boost world grain prices and precipitate political instability in many developing countries. The signs of water stress are everywhere. Half of China's 617 largest cities face water deficits.
Satellite images show springs, lakes and rivers drying up throughout the northern half of China.
A 1998 Chinese assessment reports that the water table under much of the North China Plain, a region responsible for nearly 40 percent of China's grain production, has fallen an average of 5 feet each of the last five years. A Sino-Japanese analysis from 1997 reports that water tables are falling almost everywhere in China where the land is flat. Millions of farmers are finding their wells pumped dry. China depends on irrigated land to produce 70 percent of the grain for its huge population of 1.2 billion people, but it is diverting more and more irrigation water to supply the needs of fast-growing cities and booming industries. As rivers run dry and aquifers are depleted, China's swelling demands for water are colliding with its limited supply.