The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won, Revised and Expanded Edition

Nary a Drop to Drink

She gave birth to one of the world’s most glorious ancient civilizations. For more than 4000 years, she has nurtured millions of fields and farmers spread alongside her. Millions still rely on her bounty today. But like so many working mothers, the Yellow River is exhausted, her resources dwindling, her energy flagging. The 3600-mile-long waterway known throughout history as “China’s sorrow” because of a penchant for spilling over is now causing despair for precisely the opposite reason: It is drying up.

—Los Angeles Times

Much of China’s fresh water in its rivers, lakes, streams, and wells is just too polluted to use in irrigation, much less for drinking. This horrific water pollution is thus exacerbating a water-scarcity ...