For the last three consecutive years, the World Economic Forum has cited a water supply crisis as one of the top five global risks facing mankind. In 2015, water shortage jumped to the top of the list, making it more hazardous than infectious disease and weapons of mass destruction.
In China, a two-pronged crisis has already arrived. In 2012, more than half of the groundwater in almost 200 cities tested “bad” or “extremely bad,” according to Chinese government statistics. Apart from treating toxic lakes and polluted drinking water, the country is also tackling a severe water deficit. Eight regions – including Shanghai and Beijing – are over 50 percent below the water poverty line set by the World Bank. Four of China’s five major farming provinces are also among the driest places in the country. As a dominant exporter of agricultural products, China’s lack of water isn’t a confined dilemma – it’s a global problem.
Where Guangdong Stands
Listed as one of the nine "at risk" provinces by China Water Risk - a Hong Kong-based nonprofit research organization - Guangdong is neither water-rich nor scarce. Protecting the Pearl River Delta's natural waterways from careless waste and pollution, therefore, is imperative to ensuring the province evades a water deficit. Unfortunately, starting in the 80s, South China's special economic zone has consistently favored industrial development over environmental sustainability.
"Guangzhou has around 230 rivers and brooks total, 60 of which are tested, although that number recently dropped to 51," says Li Zhou, program manager at Greenovation Hub. "70 percent of those don't meet official benchmarks, which isn't ideal by citizen or government standards."
The state of Guangdong's natural water pollution paints a bleak picture, but drinking water - at least in urban areas - is treated to a satisfactory level. Zhou and his colleague, Guanjun Feng, program officer at Greenovation Hub, agree that those who live in the central districts of China's first-tier cities can expect their tap water to meet government standards.
"Guangzhou is actually one of the most transparent local governments in the country when it comes to reporting specific water contaminant levels," says Zhou. Every month, state websites list the quality of water tested in natural streams and each of Guangzhou's primary wastewater plants. The results of the government tests correspond with the independent research of Greenovation Hub.
"Just remember, the quality of water leaving a wastewater plant isn't the same as that which enters your home," says Feng. "Corroding pipes and dirty storage tanks can release contaminants into the water on its way back to your kitchen sink."
Organic chemical runoff from farms and factories is expensive to treat properly, but small towns and villages - the new homes of China's major industrial plants - lack capital to deal with the problem.
A portion of Guangzhou's pipes - especially those in the older districts of Haizhu, Liwan and Yuexiu - were built in the 40s and 80s. Shenzhen assembled most of its pipes in the 90s while Zhujiang New Town finished construction in the 00s. Depending on which city and district you live in, how old your apartment is and how often your neighborhood disinfects its holding tank, it may be worth investing in a home water filter just to be safe.
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For rural inhabitants, the story isn't so encouraging. As China gradually pushes factories out of its metropolises and into the countryside, crucial sources of fresh water are running amok with manmade toxins. It's an intuitive concept - the closer one lives to factories, the more likely one's tap water is drawn from a questionable source. That could mean a higher risk of cancer-inducing byproducts that arise when chlorine - which is used to treat the water - reacts with organic chemicals from agricultural and industrial discharge.
"We put far too much chlorine into our water," shrugs Dr. Shaobin Huang, professor of environmental engineering at the College of Environment and Energy of South China University of Technology. "It's cheaper than using ozone disinfection, but chlorine is a corrosive matter. If it is strong enough to fight bacteria and certain chemicals, then it can also fight against our bodies."
Organic chemical runoff from farms and factories is expensive to treat properly, but small towns and villages - the new homes of China's major industrial plants - lack capital to deal with the problem.
The tendrils of polluted water don't stop there. Guangdong's rural districts also house most of its farmers, meaning that substandard tap water (and even groundwater) is being used to cultivate fruits and vegetables consumed by millions each year. Food safety, in other words, goes hand in hand with the effective treatment of rural water.
Souces of Water in the PRD
Guangzhou collected its drinking water from the Pearl River throughout the 90s, but by 2004, the water had grown too contaminated. New plans to construct Zhujiang New Town and Guangzhou University Town further persuaded the city to reach outward and retrieve water from Xijiang, Beijiang and Dongjiang. Today, the Pearl River still tests "extremely bad" - or at Level V/V for surface water - despite the fact that the mayor insists on taking a dip every spring to prove otherwise. By comparison, surface water must test at or above Levels I-II before it can be considered as a source for drinking water.
Shenzhen, Huizhou and Hong Kong obtain water from the East River (Dongjiang), while Guangzhou primarily relies on the west tributary (Xijiang) and the northern arm (Beijiang), near Panyu.
"We see these municipal governments bicker over water every year," smirks Zhou. "You have huge cities like Hong Kong and Shenzhen sharing the end of one tributary. Guangzhou gets all of its water from outside the city borders but never offers subsidies to the regions it takes from."
Since the rivers all flow towards the South China Sea, any pollution that occurs in the north - in Guangxi or Hunan, for example - will affect the quality of water downstream in Guangdong.
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