Thaindian News

Beijing, Apr 23 (ANI): Climate change is having an adverse impact on China’s water resources, said the country’s water resources minister.

Chen Lei’s comments came during a meeting on climate change where he pointed out that global warming has become an important environmental issue, with water being one of the sectors most directly affected.

“China faces an imbalance between the supply and demand of water to support its rapid social and economic development, while protecting the natural environment and ecosystems,” the China Daily quoted Lei, as saying.

“Global climate change could further exacerbate existing problems over water security, water supply and farming irrigation,” Lei said.

Lei also said China experiences a water shortage of 40 billion cubic meters a year, with two-thirds of cities facing increasing scarcity of water.

Khalid Mohtadullah, a senior adviser of Global Water Partnership, said one of the worst issues that China is facing today is water pollution.

He said China has become the world’s second largest economy with rapid economic growth, and many industries have not found a proper way to manage waste water.

“China is vulnerable to the impacts of uncontrollable climate change as its water infrastructure is weak or unprepared for such changes,” he said.

However, Chen said government is stepping up the efforts in water resources management by enhancing the water supply capacity for urban and rural areas, flood prevention systems and the construction of farming infrastructure.

The Chinese government is set to invest 4 trillion Yuan in water conservancy projects over the next 10 years.

It has also established strict water resource management measures to limit the scale of water exploitation, improve the efficiency of water usage, and curb water pollution. (ANI)