| The Yangtze River near Chongqing. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue |
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What are the trends, hurdles, and big ideas for water in China in 2021?
Domestically, the country’s leaders will respond to record-breaking floods in the southern provinces, advocate for water-absorbing “green” infrastructure, and contend with polluted water. In foreign affairs, tensions in the Mekong River over dams and water supply will be tested by a new regional data-sharing agreement, while the Chinese government and state-owned companies pursue water-intensive infrastructure developments on other continents as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. At the same time, the dawn of the Biden administration will introduce a new dynamic in the U.S.-China relationship. Will that signal a return to Obama-era cooperation on climate, energy, and water? To discuss these and other topics Circle of Blue reporter Brett Walton spoke with Scott Moore, the director of China Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, and Jennifer Turner, the director of the China Environment Forum at the Wilson Center. |
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| | | In June 2013, a flood in Uttarakhand, an Indian Himalayan state, killed thousands of people, swept villages away, and seriously damaged the state’s hydroelectric dams and powerhouses. The dam at Vishnuprayag, on the Alaknanda River, was buried in mud and boulders. Photo © Dhruv Malhotra/Circle of Blue |
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A global dam-building binge that spanned the early- to mid-20th century is now reaching a turning point, according to a report published by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health.
These dams are nearing middle and old age, when their operation and maintenance poses growing financial, environmental, and safety challenges. Though each dam is a unique case, an older fleet has common risks: Rising maintenance costs and declining capacity to store water due to sediment buildup. Continued environmental harm from blocking fish migration and stagnant waters in their reservoirs. And designs that may not stand up to an era of more intense rainstorms and severe weather, putting them in danger of collapse. |
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Drinking water for millions of people in China has unsafe levels of PFAS toxics, according to a study released by Tsinghua University earlier this month. The researchers analyzed 526 drinking water samples across 66 Chinese cities for perfluoro- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are durable, man-made chemicals found in products such as textiles, firefighting foam, and pesticides. The study concluded that just under 100 million people in the examined cities have PFAS concentrations in their drinking water above safe levels. |
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For the news you need to start the week, tune into “What’s Up With Water” fresh on Monday’s on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud. Featured coverage from this week’s episode of What’s Up With Water looks at: In the United States, environmental, health, and civic groups have sued the federal government, claiming that revised rules for lead in drinking water are not strong enough to protect health. A new study finds that lakes could suffer longer and hotter periods of extreme warm water by the end of the century. In other research news, a study from Stanford University explored the benefits of piped water for women who usually have to fetch it from distant sources. This week, Circle of Blue reports on one of the financial aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic: a growing number of unpaid water bills. |
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| From Circle of Blue's Archives: |
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| | | Sand miners operate in the Mekong delta south of Vietnam’s Co Chien bridge. Here, they remove sediments directly from the river bed. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue |
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| About 18 million people live in the low-lying Mekong delta, where half the land is less than 1 meter above sea level.
What most concerns Sepehr Eslami, a Ph.D. candidate at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, is damage that is occurring to the rivers of the six-country watershed, and the harmful effects that extend downstream. Two developments are particularly destructive to the delta, which is located wholly in Vietnam: sand mines and hydropower dams. Together, they are starving the delta of its chief building block, the nutrient that fortifies its shores and keeps the sea from encroaching, which is sediment. |
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