Voice of America: Circle of Blue on China’s Worst Drought in 50 Years

From Voice of America:

Cities and provinces along the Yangtze River in central China are grappling with the country’s worst drought in more than 50 years. Resource analysts say the drought highlights not only the impact of climate change, but also China’s persistent problem of water scarcity and how it must balance that with the country’s enormous demand for energy and economic growth.

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Keith Schneider, a senior editor at Circle of Blue, an international consortium of journalists and scientists that focuses on global water resources, says water scarcity is a growing problem in China.

“China has been losing moisture steadily since 2000, according to their National Bureau of Statistics. In fact, they’ve lost 35 billion cubic meters of water annually since 2000. That’s 350 billion cubic meters in total for the country. And 350 billion cubic meters is a boat load of water. It’s as much water as flows down the Yangtze River and past Shanghai in eight months,” Schneider said.