The water resources of China are affected by both severe water shortages and severe growing population and rapid economic development as well as lax environmental oversight have increased in a large scale the water demand and pollution. China has responded by measures such as rapidly building out the water infrastructure and increasing regulation as well as exploring a number of further technological solutions. Due to continual economic growth and population size, China is one of the world's leading water consumers. China withdraws roughly 600 billion cubic meters of water on a yearly basis. The country surpasses the United States by 120 billion cubic meters and falls short of India by 160 billion cubic meters. For this reason, China's domestic policy remains one of the most vital on a national and international scale. Issues relating to water quality and quantity are likely primary limiting factors in China's sustainable economic and infrastructural development.
Water quantity
Supply China's surface water resources include 2598.44 cubic kilometers and groundwater resources amounted to 792.44 cubic kilometers as of 2022. As pumping water draws water from nearby rivers, the total available resource is less than the sum of surface and groundwater, and this amounted to 2708.81 cubic kilometers. Circa 80% of these resources are in the South of China. In 2016, 82% of China's total water supply was surface water, but only 18% was groundwater. The northern part of China depends more on groundwater than the southern part because of less precipitation. Progress has been made over the last three decades in providing its citizens with improved drinking water. According to the UN, almost a quarter of the world's progress in this regard occurred in China, with 457 million citizens seeing enhanced water availability and quality from 1990 to 2010. The UN attribute this progress to increased water pipe systems, highlighting the importance of domestic policy.
Water scarcity
The World Resources Institute lists many of the more populated areas of China as experiencing high (40% - 80% of renewable ground water extracted yearly) or extremely high (>80%) water stress. The WRI has also evaluated a similar portion of the country in the range of 3 to 5 on their overall water risk index, a measurement accounting for a variety of qualitative and quantitative evaluations. Issues relating to water quality and quantity are likely primary limiting factors in China's sustainable economic and infrastructural development.
In 2022, the Yangtze river basin suffered a severe drought, causing the river to drop to its lowest level since 1865. Hydropower plants in Sichuan were forced to shutdown or reduce their output.
Demand
China's per capita water usage is just over a quarter of the global average, which has been described as water poverty. China's population is roughly 18% of the global total but only has 6% of the world's water resources available. Total water usage was 599.82 cubic kilometers in 2022, or about 20% of renewable resources. In 2006, 626,000 square kilometers were irrigated.
Historically water usage in China has been characterized as inefficient, although since 1997 water usage per 10,000 RMB of GDP and water usage per 10,000 RMB of industrial added value has significantly decreased. Between 1997 and 2022, water usage per irrigated mu of agricultural land has decreased from 492 to 364 m³. Overall the per capita water usage remained stable.
Storage The 753 large-sized reservoirs and 3896 medium-sized reservoirs that provided statistics in 2022 totaled to 418.07 billion m³ storage capacity at the end of that year. For the same date, lakes reported 144.99 billion m³ of water storage.
Water balance
Over-extraction of groundwater and falling water tables are big problems in China, particularly in the north, where the area of irrigated land has increased significantly. According to the Ministry of Construction, preliminary statistics show that there are more than 160 areas nationwide where groundwater has been over-exploited with an average annual groundwater depletion of more than 10 billion cubic meters. As a result, more than 60,000 square kilometers of ground surface have sunk with more than 50 cities suffering from serious land subsidence. Flooding is also still a major problem. In a Xinhua article from 2002, Chinese experts warned of future or current water shortages. Water resource usage was expected to peak in 2030 when the population peaks. Areas north of the Yangtze river were particularly. Northern China had used 10,000-year-old aquifers which had resulted in ground cracking and subsidence in some regions. A 2005 article in China Daily stated that out of 514 rivers surveyed in 2000, 60 were dry. Water volume in lakes had decreased by 14%. Many wetlands had decreased in size.
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