Nature Communications· 2020Q1
Pollution exacerbates China’s water scarcity and its regional inequality
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- 2020year
Short summary
A nationwide assessment reveals that inadequate water quality significantly worsens China's water scarcity, affecting over half the population and highlighting regional disparities, with North China facing year-round scarcity and South China experiencing seasonal issues despite sufficient quantity.
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Key points
- Water quality, not just quantity, is a critical factor in assessing freshwater scarcity.
- Over half of China's population is affected by water scarcity due to inadequate water quality.
- North China experiences year-round water scarcity, while South China faces seasonal scarcity.
- The study emphasizes the need for assessments at multiple temporal and geographic scales.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Inadequate water quality can mean that water is unsuitable for a variety of human uses, thus exacerbating freshwater scarcity. Previous large-scale water scarcity assessments mostly focused on the availability of sufficient freshwater quantity for providing supplies, but neglected the quality constraints on water usability. Here we report a comprehensive nationwide water scarcity assessment in China, which explicitly includes quality requirements for human water uses. We highlight the necessity of incorporating water scarcity assessment at multiple temporal and geographic scales. Our results show that inadequate water quality exacerbates China's water scarcity, which is unevenly distributed across the country. North China often suffers water scarcity throughout the year, whereas South China, despite sufficient quantities, experiences seasonal water scarcity due to inadequate quality. Over half of the population are affected by water scarcity, pointing to an urgent need for improving freshwater quantity and quality management to cope with water scarcity.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Nature Communications, 2020 · DOI ↗
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Field: Ocean Engineering
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