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A few days ago I had a conversation with the Chief Operating Officer for our agricultural fund in Chile. We were discussing water, and he told me that roughly 60% of California right now is suffering "extreme drought" conditions. 30% of the state is in "severe drought". And 10% of the state is only under "drought".
In other words, roughly the entire state - the 8th largest economy in the world - is facing a severe shortage of water. But if you think that's bad, China is about to take over the spotlight yet again. A study by China's Ministry of Water Resources found that approximately
55% of China's 50,000 rivers that existed in the 1990s have disappeared. Moreover, China is over-exploiting its groundwater by 22 billion cubic meters per year; yet its per-capita water consumption is less than one third of the global average.
This is astounding data. More than 400 major cities in China are short of water, with some 110 facing "serious scarcity". Beijing and other northern cities get most of their water from underground aquifers. Over the last five decades, China has had to drill increasingly deeper to gain access to water.
Another challenge China faces is logistics. More than 60% of China's water is in the southern part of the country, but most of the usage is in the north and along the coastlines. When you consider that this is a country that has almost one fifth of the world's population and is soon to become the world's biggest economy, this is rapidly becoming a global problem.
Comment: With the increase in volcanic and seismic activity around the world, this one is too close for comfort to the volcano of Thera (modern day Santorini).