Economic Transformation, Technological Innovation, and Policy and Institutional Reforms Hold Keys to Relieving China's Water Shortages

摘要

Although China ranks sixth in total water resources (2.8 trillion m~3) in the world, with a population of 1.3 billion the country's annual per capita renewable freshwater availability (less than 2200 m~3) is only a quarter of the world's average. The spatial distribution of water resources shows a significant mismatch with that of water demand, while large intra- and interannual variability makes effective utilization of water resources difficult, particularly in the more arid north China (i).