From The Anthropik Network:
According to hydrologists, government officers and industrial leaders, water and waste pollution is the single most serious issue facing China. Presently, one in three rural inhabitants lacks access to safe drinking water. The urban situation is not any more heartening. More than a hundred large cities are short of water and half are considered to be seriously threatened by the shortage. In the northern region of the country, the water table has dropped more than a meter. Even in the capital city of Beijing, the water supply per individual is only 300 cubic meters (66,000 gallons) per year. The country’s water resources are among the lowest in the world per capita and concentrated in the south, so that the north and the west experience regular droughts.