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“The vice minister of water resources said China’s unbridled economic growth had left up to 40 percent of its rivers badly polluted and the country faced “huge pressures” on supplies of water.
“Industrialisation and urbanisation, including ensuring grain and food security, are exerting higher demands on water supplies… while our water use remains crude and wasteful,” Jiao Yong said at a press briefing.
Over 46,000 reservoirs in China need to be rebuilt or reinforced to ensure that surrounding farmlands and communities are safe from flooding and have enough water for irrigation, he said.
More funding would also be needed to protect the reservoir of the $22.5 billion Three Gorges Dam — the world’s largest — from geological disasters and pollution, he said.
The government has long held up the world’s largest hydroelectric project as a symbol of its engineering prowess.
But the dam has created a reservoir stretching up to 600 kilometres (370 miles) through a region criss-crossed by geological faultlines and critics fear seismic disturbances such as a huge earthquake could cause a catastrophe.”
Read more: AFP
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