An Overview of China's Growing Water Crisis: Pearl River Basin

For people who are not extremely in tune or knowledgeable about global economics, it is  still easy to see how China has quickly become one of the leading global economies. Over the last several decades, China has successfully surged ahead industrially and economically; however, as a consequence, both the availability and quality of water has greatly been altered.

The entirety of China has become exploited through this driving thirst for economic superiority. A perfect example of the impact this increase of industrial production has had on water quality can be seen in the Pearl River Basin(PRB). The Chinese economy has grown at a rate averaging around ten percent over the past twenty years and it currently accounts for ten percent of the global GDP. This is due to the fact that the Pearl River Basin's strategic location above Hong Kong has made it a target for industrial expansion projects. As a result, the Pearl River Basin itself has become the economic engine of Southeastern China, and it stands alone providing over eighty percent of all of China's GDP (Greenpeace 2009).

Below is an economic map from The Economist that breaks down China's regions into GDP, population, and amount of exports and then matches it with a country of similar numbers. The current map is focused on the regional GDP in correlation to other nations' GDP in terms of equal production. To put it into perspective, the Guangdong province, the region in which the Pearl River Basin is located, is on par with Indonesia in terms of GDP. It produces as much as the entire country of Indonesia, Hong Kong as much as Egypt, and so forth. 

As this expansion occurs, it has branched off into this region which is prominently responsible for supplying drinking water throughout the surrounding area, which includes Hong Kong. While only one percent of the water on earth is accessible for drinking water and the global population is estimated to reach over nine billion by 2050, the majority of which will occupy Asia, supplying clean drinking water to these masses will become increasingly more difficult because of developing conditions. The Pearl River Basin covers over forty-thousand square kilometers and is called home by over forty-five million people (Greenpeace 2009). 

Although there are other factors that have attributed to the impact on water, the industrial progress in this region has created turmoil for the environment of the Pearl River Basin. In the past decade over 35 Industrial Relocation (IR) Parks have dispersed throughout the region, including areas that hold extreme purpose for maintaining and delivering drinking water to the several dependent parties (As seen in picture below). There has been over sixteen billion RMB invested into the area. Water from the Guangdong River, which is known as the "faucet" of the Pearl River Basin, is responsible for distributing water to provinces like Dongguan, which relies on the Dongjiang River for 90% of its municipal water supply. 

                                        Image Source : Civic Exchange

As seen in the image above, the quality of drinking water in provinces throughout the Pearl River Basin are below the grade of "drinkable" water. You can read which types of pollutants are located in the different regions of the Guangdong province because of the different industrial expansions that have taken over that area. While several streams surpass the black "grade V," or " not suitable for any use," the poor water quality shown above can blame countless different types of pollutants that are abusing the rivers. Now known as the "four news": new electronics, new pharmaceuticals, new energy, and new materials, these have been the focal points of the economic expansion. Unfortunately, these products are also responsible for the great deal of pollution present in these water ways.

                                  Image Source:Google Images

This disregard for water quality has greatly limited the surrounding population's ability to utilize the water for potable, industrial and agricultural uses. Above is part of the river in the Guangdong province and the floating debris is considered the least of their worries as high metal content and other chemicals are not visible to the naked eye. While the population in the Pearl River Basin becomes increasingly saturated with industrial workers migrating to the new factories, the demand for water has also skyrocketed. The compounding effects of massive economic investment, increased population, and the increased demand on straining water sources have left China in crisis as current legislature offers little enforcement or solution.