The Stream, November 5: China’s Water Supply Could Limit Development

China’s Communist Party set moderate economic development targets that now appear difficult to achieve. China is running low on the water necessary to generate the power it needs to meet those goals, The Wall Street Journal reported.

China’s undersea oil and gas reserves could be the largest in the world, scientists estimate. Conflict in the South China Sea, Financial Times reported, could balloon out of competing territorial claims to oil rights between Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and China.

Conservation and Pollution in the States
Per capita water consumption in Sacramento, California region dropped 15 percent from 2006 to 2010. A new report from the Sacramento Water Forum pegged the drop on a state law requiring water utilities to trim consumption 20 percent by 2020, The Scaramento Bee reported, and growing awareness that the region consumed more than its share of water.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection decided not to report certain metals that it found in a hydraulic fracturing wastewater site. Department officials tested for a range of metals, The New York Times reported, but did not include elements like copper, nickel and zinc in the final report because the state’s oil and gas division of the EPA did not request the full range of results.

Shifting Monsoons
India’s monsoon rainfall in the southwest and northeast has shifted due to climate change, a farmer’s welfare association said. The association is asking the state of Tamil Nadu to delay the release of a supplementary water supply, The Hindu reported.

The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.