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

That Giant Sucking Sound—China’s Dangerous Game of Groundwater Extraction

The massive extraction of groundwater in the North China Plain has led to a rapid decline in the groundwater table. In agriculture, one of the consequences of groundwater depletion has been exhaustion and thus desertion of wells.

—Hong Yang and Alexander Zehnder

To slake its ever-growing thirst, China is aggressively “mining” many of its deepwater aquifers. This groundwater extraction is a dangerous game for at least four reasons.

First, the reliance on groundwater mining is unsustainable. Unlike shallower aquifers, which can be replenished by annual rainfall, the deepest aquifers are nonrenewable resources. Thus, any reliance on these aquifers for ordinary needs is taking ...