(July 12, 2010) While Chinese officials continue to forge ahead with an expensive scheme to move water from the Yangtze river in the south of the country to water-starved cities in the north, fears concerning its cleanliness are surfacing once again. According to a recent report, authorities are concerned over the poor water quality in the eastern leg of the South North Water Diversion project.
Pollution hinders South-to North water diversion
(July 6, 2010) Authorities are still struggling with concerns about the poor water quality of the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project eight years after the eastern route’s construction began.
Project’s delay leaves Beijing thirsty
(June 29, 2010) Delays in the controversial South-to-North Water Diversion Project are worsening Beijing’s water crisis, says a recent report from China Daily.
Beijing’s water shortage worsens as SNWD project delayed
(June 28, 2010) In a bid to relieve Beijing’s water shortage, 200 million cubic meters of water will be transferred from three reservoirs in Hebei province to the metropolis, rednet.cn reported.
Passing of an era: Beijing’s water crisis hurting one of the city’s great temples
(June 24, 2010) Beijing’s water crisis is behind the demise of one of city’s most famous and historic temples, say a team of Beijing investigative historians led by China’s prize-winning journalist Dai Qing and Probe International, a Canadian environmental think tank.
Water shortage looms for China, India
(May 31, 2010) Water demand in the next two decades will double in India and rise 32 percent in China, according to the 2030 Water Resources Group, a research collaboration between the World Bank, management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and industrial water users such as Coca-Cola.
With cave-ins, China gets a sinking feeling
(June 17, 2010) Rapid development, not true sinkholes, apparently led to a flurry of cave-ins in China in the weeks after a Guatemala City shocker.
Danjiangkou Reservoir: A tale of two watersheds
(June 16, 2010) In the ultimate photo-op this week, Danjiangkou Mayor Zeng Wenhua, with press in tow, ladled a cup of water out of his city’s reservoir and drank it "without hesitation" to demonstrate its purity. The Danjiangkou Reservoir—on the Hanjiang River, a branch of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River—is slated to provide Beijing with water by 2014, once the central channel of the South-North Water Diversion scheme is completed.
Migrants “happy” to be resettled says China’s state-run media
(June 11, 2010) The more than 60-thousand Chinese citizens who will be pushed off of their land to make way for a massive South-North Water Diversion project are, according to one government official, ‘eager to move.’
Environmental group petitions Beijing government for stronger water regulations
(June 8, 2010) On Saturday, Friends of Nature (FON)—China’s oldest environmental organization—hosted a Conference for the release of their survey on public opinion regarding Beijing’s ongoing water crisis. As part of the conference, FON also issued a petition to the government, calling for urgent action from officials to help increase the city’s water-use efficiency and reduce pollution.
Liberty endures in two-system China
(June 7, 2010) While China still often treats dissent with a mailed fist, the lesson of Hong Kong over the last 13 years is that Beijing is also capable of using the velvet glove, writes Gideon Rachman in The Financial Times.
Seeing is believing
(June 7, 2010) Li Yuling, the narrator of the most recent Oral History “A River Returns,” is featured in this China Daily report detailing the activities of Beijing citizens as they raise awareness on the dire state of the city’s once pristine rivers.
Beijing residents worry their city is running out of water, looking to government for action
(June 5, 2010) Three-quarters of those interviewed in a recent survey about Beijing’s water crisis say that they are concerned about the capital city’s water shortages and that they feel pollution and overexploitation of water are to blame. The survey, commissioned by Friends of Nature, China’s oldest environmental organization, was released in Beijing today, World Environment Day.
Friends of Nature petition to the Beijing government
(June 5, 2010) Friends of Nature (FON)—China’s oldest environmental organization—is hosting a Conference for the release of their survey on public opinion regarding Beijing’s ongoing water crisis. As part of the conference, FON has also issued this petition to the government, calling for urgent action from officials to help increase the city’s water-use efficiency and reduce pollution.
Three Gorges: Privatizing the profits, socializing the costs
(June 3, 2010) A recent restructuring by China’s Yangtze Power Co., the Shanghai-listed subsidiary of the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, will see the company acquire full ownership of the only profitable part of the controversial dam—the generators—while assuming little-to-none of the environmental and social costs.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
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