Water supply and sanitation in China
Water supply and sanitation in China is undergoing a massive transition while facing numerous challenges such as rapid urbanization, increasing economic inequality, and the supply of water to rural areas. Water scarcity and pollution also impact access to water.
Shanghai, like many other Chinese cities, depends on surface water that is heavily polluted, such as the Huangpu River shown here whose water comes through Suzhou Creek from the heavily polluted Lake Tai.
A designated "Source Water Protection Area" on the Three Gorges Reservoir, near Maoping, Hubei
The water resources of China are affected by both severe water shortages and severe growing population and rapid economic development as well as lax environmental oversight have increased in a large scale the water demand and pollution. China has responded by measures such as rapidly building out the water infrastructure and increasing regulation as well as exploring a number of further technological solutions.
Yufeng Reservoir drought conditions, 2015.
A farmer's cabbage patch being watered in Linxia County, Gansu
Industrial and domestic development along the Yellow River at Liujiaxia Dam
An almost-dry river near Beijing, China. July 2007
