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The Thirsty Dragon: China Reduces Wheat Irrigation As Farming Depletes Groundwater
September 16th, 2014
As reported by Bloomberg, China is adopting measures that place water security over grain production for the first time: China is reducing crop irrigation in regions with water shortages as the world’s biggest grain consumer seeks to ease pressure on declining aquifers. Hebei province, the nation’s third-biggest wheat grower, will cut wheat irrigation by 760,000 […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Plans Tibetan Conservation Zone To Protect Source Of Great rivers
November 19th, 2011
Via the Shanghai Daily, a report that China is planning to set up an ecological conservation zone on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the country’s major rivers originate. As the article notes: “…The planned national conservation zone covers a 395,000 square kilometer region known as Sanjiangyuan, which is the source of China’s three major rivers – […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Bringing The Yellow River Back In The Flow
July 30th, 2011
Via China Dialogue, an interesting article on China’s efforts to regulate and restore China’s polluted, drought-ridden Yellow River which once struggled to reach the sea. As the report notes: “…On one wall of the control centre, a mosaic of TV screens flickers back and forth between the latest satellite photographs and rainfall projections. On another, a […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Told To Reduce Food Production Or Face ‘Dire’ Water Levels
July 4th, 2011
Via The Guardian, an interesting article on how China is running out of water and can no longer afford to irrigate its northern plains. As the report notes: “…China needs to reduce food production on its dry northern plains or aquifers will diminish to a “dire” level in 30 years, one the country’s leading groundwater […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Watts, Water, and Workers
March 8th, 2011
Courtesy of The Circle of Blue, a detailed look at China’s ambitious water conservation and transfer program, started in 2003, to help hold off the looming confrontation between its scarce water reserves and growing coal-based industrial sector. As the article notes: “…On Sept. 7, 2007, during a morning briefing in Beijing on China’s newest five-year […]
Read more »Thirsty Dragon: Moving Heaven & Earth To Bring Water To Beijing
October 1st, 2010
Via Terra Daily, an updated look at China’s $62-billion South-North Water Diversion, which will bring water to the parched capital via three major phases: 1) the 885-mile eastern line from Hangzhou to Beijing, which mostly follows the route of the Grand Canal and is hoped to be ready by 2013; 2) the middle line, which […]
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