2. Water Crisis in China and Africa By: Naima Uddin Latchmie Singh

3. Water issues are affecting a lot of countries. One of those countries is China. China has the fourth largest fresh water resources in the world. But that statement is about to change. There are more than four hundred cities, including Beijing, in China that are suffering from water shortage.

4. There was once a time when all of China’s water was fresh and healthy. But now, China has very little freshwater. This isn’t good for a country that has about twenty percent of the world’s population. About seventy five percent of China’s lakes and rivers are polluted. As a result of water pollution, about seven hundred million people drink contaminated water every day.

5. China’s surface water or groundwater is a very big problem. They are polluted because of natural contamination or by man made pollution. In 2006, according to China’s State Environmental Protection Agency, sixty percent of China’s rivers are affected from pollution so badly that they can’t be used as drinking water. There were many rivers and lakes that good water quality. In November 2005, toxic chemical was spilled in the Songhua River. It was followed by an explosion. Tai Lake was shut down because of pollution by an algae in May 2007. That river was a drinking supply to about six million people. China is trying to improve their water quality.

6. China’s water productivity is is about 2, 711.5 cubic kilometers of runoff water from its rivers. There is about 828.8 cubic km of groundwater in the year 2000. The total available resource is less than the sum of the ground and surface water in 2821.4 cubic km. In 1993, 498, 720 square km were irrigated in China. Seventy eight percent of China’s water goes to agriculture, eighteen percent goes to the industries, and five percent goes to domestic places.

7. Since 2007, China has been trying to save water. China has invested over three billion yuan (Chinese money) towards soil and water conservation. Each year, China has a yearly total of fifty thousand square km of land under control in promoting China’s environmental construction. China has been building new installations and facilities. The result of that is that China has a yearly amount of 1.5 billion tons of silts. A few ago, a Ministry of Water Resources chose ten cities, one hundred counties, one thousand rivers for water and soil conservation. The group has passed the state level inspection. China is on its way to water conservation!

8. Tai Lake turned green after the algae incident. The Songhua River is polluted. The Tai Lake before it was polluted. The Song Songhua River before it was polluted.

9. The water crisis in Africa is affecting millions of people in Africa. Four thousand nine hundred children are taken away because of the lack of clean water. The most common disease related to water is the diarrheal disease. This is the result when somebody drinks water that is dirty and not enough.

10. There are many issues in Africa because of water. There’s not enough water and the little water that there is, is dirty. People get diseases such as malarial and diarrheal disease. People in Africa just want water and go through such hard times to get it. The women use buckets to get water and put it on their heads. Little children dig and dig wells to find water.

11. There is a little water in Africa. There is drought going on. The water there is dirty and green. In the water is soil, insects, tree barks, and other things in rivers, lakes, etc. Little children go to the water and take huge buckets and have to carry the tub of water.

12. Productivity: Only about fifteen percent of Africa’s water is actually clean. Still, even some of that water cannot be consumed. Most of the water is produced by rain, lakes, well, etc. Conservation: In Africa, the farmers are being encouraged to not use fertilizers, pesticides, and soil management. They are to avoid this because it could cause soil erosions, building of sodium, chloride, pollution, and the environment’s rocks will be gone. The farmers will have to buy affordable irrigation equipment in order to conserve water.

13. Women in Africa have to carry the water the water in buckets from the lake. Little children have to find water and bring it to their family. Old women and little children have to carry tubs of water.