Top 10 Choke Point: China Stories
- Choke Point: China – Confronting Water Scarcity and Energy Demand in the World’s Largest Country
- China, Tibet, and the Strategic Power of Water
- Surge of New Dams in Southwest China Produces Power and Public Ire
- Toxic Water: Across Much of China, Huge Harvests Irrigated with Industrial and Agricultural Runoff
- New Wind and Solar Sectors Won’t Solve China’s Water Scarcity
- Chinese Farms Generate More Water Pollution than Factories
- Memo to Hu and Obama: Water and Energy Choke Points Merit Time at the China-U.S. Summit
- China’s Climate Emissions Are Global Issue, But Water Scarcity Is Greater Domestic Priority
- Food Supply, Fracking, and Water Scarcity Challenge China’s Juggernaut Economy
- A Dry and Anxious North Awaits China’s Giant, Unproven Water Transport Scheme
Recent Choke Point: China Stories
- Photo Slideshow: China's Polluted Waters
- Map: China's Provincial Water Resources and Use (2002-2010)
- Map: China's Provincial Energy Production (1997-2010)
- Toxic Water: Across Much of China, Huge Harvests Irrigated with Industrial and Agricultural Runoff
- Map: China's Provincial Grain Production (1997-2010)
Top 10 Waternews Stories
- In Solar Power Lies Path to Reducing Water Use For Energy
- Infographic: 10 Things You Should Know About Water
- The Price of Water: A Comparison of Water Rates, Usage in 30 U.S. Cities
- Experts Name the Top 19 Solutions to the Global Freshwater Crisis
- Choke Point: China - Confronting Water Scarcity and Energy Demand in the World’s Largest Country
- Choke Point: China
- China, Tibet, and the Strategic Power of Water
- U.S. Faces Era Of Water Scarcity
- Google Brings Water Data to Life
- Water Demand is Flash Point in Dakota Oil Boom
Toxic Water: Across Much of China, Huge Harvests Irrigated with Industrial and Agricultural Runoff
The dirty truth about the world’s largest grain producer.
China’s Water Reserves and World’s Warming Atmosphere Wait For Natural Gas Breakthrough
China’s deep shale reserves are treacherous to tap and slow to develop.
Scarcity of Water and Land Shifts Geography of Food Production and Irrigation Networks to China’s Northeast
Rich land, ample water, and human persistence have turned virgin prairie into the primary breadbasket for China, the world’s largest nation and second-largest economy that is pursuing grain production with a single-minded purpose.
Food Supply, Fracking, and Water Scarcity Challenge China’s Juggernaut Economy
New project finds that building the world’s fastest-growing economy risks public safety and tests global resource limits. Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue An expensive program to expand irrigation networks is occurring in Inner Mongolia, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces, which has prompted concern because it would push new irrigation canals into highly [...]
Building China’s 21st-century Megacity: Shanghai’s Experiment with Water and Nature
A new community on the Yangtze River has, so far, been more successful at attracting ducks than people. But city officials have their sights set high for Lingang Port City, which they say could be home to nearly a million people by 2050. Cleaner water will be a big help.
Double Choke Point: Demand for Energy Tests Water Supply and Economic Stability in China and the U.S.
The cords of energy demand and water supply are tightening around the world's two largest economies.
Energy Economy Brings Change to Shepherd Life: Modernization Comes to the Dry Grasslands of Inner Mongolia
Along the vast frozen grasslands, 23-year-old Wu Yun and her father, Bao Zhu, tend their flock of sheep and cattle. Just over the ridge, the northern city of Xilinhot is booming as the coal industry continues to expand. But it will take a lot of water to feed both the city and the mining.
Rains Bring Relief For Six-Month China Drought, But Chronic Water Problems Loom
Although now satiated, the dry spell is the latest in a growing trend of severe water shortages threatening China's food production, energy generation, and accelerating modernization.
China’s Other Looming Choke Point: Food Production
The Yellow River Basin is the center of a contest over water, energy, and agriculture.
Off the Deep End — Beijing’s Water Demand Outpaces Supply Despite Conservation, Recycling, and Imports
How China's capital got in over its head, and what the city is doing to get its water crisis under control.
Water Needs Curtail China’s Coal Gasification For Fuel, Yet Conversion To Chemicals Pushes Ahead
Though coal-to-liquids has been suspended due to water scarcity, the process uses 50 percent less water per unit of end product compared with coal-to-chemicals processes which have been given the go-ahead in hopes of slowing petroleum imports.
Q&A: Ma Jun on China’s Economic Development and Water Resources
Ma Jun tells Circle of Blue that China is still on the track of a highly energy- and resource-intensive model, with the need to de-couple economic growth from the expansion of resource consumption
Bohai Sea Pipeline Could Open China’s Northern Coal Fields
Disputed project seen as a must for modernization.
Surge of New Dams in Southwest China Produces Power and Public Ire
Water-rich region, though, is getting dryer.
China Responds to Explosive Growth, Pollution, and Water Scarcity in Latest Five-Year Plan
Will momentum for runaway development be too powerful to restrain?
Photo Slideshow: China’s Polluted Waters
Pollution is a major driver of water scarcity in China, especially in the places where economic growth is the highest and water resources are under the most stress — China’s dry northern breadbaskets and its biggest manufacturing hubs in the south and east.
Map: China’s Provincial Water Resources and Use (2002-2010)
Click through the interactive infographic to see how China, the world’s largest nation and second-largest economy, faces multiple challenges for sustaining its water supply.
Map: China’s Provincial Energy Production (1997-2010)
Click through the interactive infographic to see how China, the world’s largest nation and second-largest economy, races to meet rising demand for energy. Similar Interactive China Maps Map © Samuel Kosinski / Circle of Blue Click image to launch the interactive Google Fusion Tables map. For more interactive maps of China’s historical data, check out [...]
Map: China’s Provincial Grain Production (1997-2010)
Click through the interactive infographic to see how China, the world’s largest nation and second-largest economy, has shifted its bread baskets to the north.
Photo Slideshow: Irrigating Northeastern China’s Breadbasket
The northeast region of China, including Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin provinces, is among the world’s most important breadbaskets. Earlier this year, as Circle of Blue reported in this Choke Point: China article, China’s central government announced a five-year, $US 6.3 billion program to rebuild and expand irrigation networks in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and eastern Inner [...]
Video: Scarcity, Pollution, and Energy are Choke Point: China II Focus
Choke Point: China is an on-the-ground report that displays in text, photographs, and interactive graphics the powerful evidence of a potentially ruinous confrontation between growth, water, and energy that is already visible across China; a confrontation that is virtually certain to grow more dire over the next decade. Nadya Ivanova: China is a place in [...]
Map: Major Hydropower in China
China is pushing its renewable energy agenda by investing in hydropower. By 2015, the Chinese government expects that its installed capacity from hydropower will amount to 300,000 megawatts, thus reducing the nation's reliance on fossil fuels.
Infographic: China’s Water Pollution Events and Protection Policies (2004-2011)
China has some of the dirtiest and most dangerous water in the world. This detailed and interactive timeline shows key pollution events, protests, and policy reforms from the last eight years at both the national and regional levels as China tries to clean up its act.
Video: Confronting Water Scarcity & Energy Demand in China
Choke Point: China is an on-the-ground report that displays in text, photographs, and interactive graphics the powerful evidence of a potentially ruinous confrontation between growth, water, and fuel that is already visible across China; a confrontation that is virtually certain to grow more dire over the next decade.
Infographic: Map of Pollution Levels in China’s Major River Basins
The seven major river basins, as a whole, have had steady improvements in water quality over the past decade.
Photo Slideshow: City of Coal on the Inner Mongolia Steppe
Xilinhot — an Inner Mongolian outpost of 177,000 residents, separated from Beijing by a 12-hour train ride — is at the center of the Xilin Gol Grassland, one of China's largest prairies and livestock production regions. The north's coal mines, trucks, and power plants are representative of the nation's coal dependency, a lifeline with an insatiable thirst for water
Infographic: Interactive Timeline Mapping China’s Drought-ridden Provinces Since 2007
Water scarcity is becoming an increasingly persistent problem for China, with droughts affecting several regions over the last four years. This spring’s extreme weather is the latest in a series of water shortages, exposing the risks that limited freshwater resources pose for the world’s biggest agricultural producer, top energy consumer, and fastest-growing industrial economy. Click [...]
Photo Slideshow: Food and Farmers — China’s Other Challenge
The farm sector and the coal sector together made up 85 percent of water used in China last year. These photos take a look at the people and places affected by rising energy demand, accelerating modernization, and diminishing freshwater resources.
Infographic: How Desalination Works
What is the process, and how much energy does it take? This video describes two common methods—reverse osmosis and flash distillation—for obtaining water from the sea.
Infographic: Underground Coal Conversion — Creating Fuels and Fertilizers with Less Water
Though the chemistry and industrial processes for coal gasification were developed early in the 20th century by European scientists, Chinese engineers have recently developed a number of technical advances. And more efficient processes means using less coal to produce more chemicals. Near Xilinhot, in eastern Inner Mongolia, China is testing a gasification process that doesn’t [...]
Photo Slideshow: China’s Polluted Waters
Pollution is a major driver of water scarcity in China, especially in the places where economic growth is the highest and water resources are under the most stress — China’s dry northern breadbaskets and its biggest manufacturing hubs in the south and east.
Photo Slideshow: Irrigating Northeastern China’s Breadbasket
The northeast region of China, including Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin provinces, is among the world’s most important breadbaskets. Earlier this year, as Circle of Blue reported in this Choke Point: China article, China’s central government announced a five-year, $US 6.3 billion program to rebuild and expand irrigation networks in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and eastern Inner [...]
Video: Scarcity, Pollution, and Energy are Choke Point: China II Focus
Choke Point: China is an on-the-ground report that displays in text, photographs, and interactive graphics the powerful evidence of a potentially ruinous confrontation between growth, water, and energy that is already visible across China; a confrontation that is virtually certain to grow more dire over the next decade. Nadya Ivanova: China is a place in [...]
Video: Confronting Water Scarcity & Energy Demand in China
Choke Point: China is an on-the-ground report that displays in text, photographs, and interactive graphics the powerful evidence of a potentially ruinous confrontation between growth, water, and fuel that is already visible across China; a confrontation that is virtually certain to grow more dire over the next decade.
Photo Slideshow: City of Coal on the Inner Mongolia Steppe
Xilinhot — an Inner Mongolian outpost of 177,000 residents, separated from Beijing by a 12-hour train ride — is at the center of the Xilin Gol Grassland, one of China's largest prairies and livestock production regions. The north's coal mines, trucks, and power plants are representative of the nation's coal dependency, a lifeline with an insatiable thirst for water
Photo Slideshow: Food and Farmers — China’s Other Challenge
The farm sector and the coal sector together made up 85 percent of water used in China last year. These photos take a look at the people and places affected by rising energy demand, accelerating modernization, and diminishing freshwater resources.
Photo Slideshow: Beijing Water Imports and Wastewater Recycling
A gallery of images from Beijing and neighboring Hebei Province, where the capital city is importing water from farmers and fishermen.
Photo Slideshow: Bohai Pipeline Could Bring Water to China’s Coal Industry
Images from northern China, where a proposed pipeline could be the answer to a resource mismatch of coal wealth and water poverty.
Photo Slideshow: Irrigation to Industry — Trading Water Rights in China’s Yellow River Basin
New industries invest in repairing irrigation canals in exchange for the right to use water from the Yellow River.
Photo Slideshow: China’s South-North Water Transfer Project
Taken together, the three lines are an audacious strategy to solve the increasingly dire confrontation between rising energy demand in a nation that is steadily getting drier.
Photo Slideshow — Choke Point: China
A gallery of images from Choke Point: China, a new water-energy series about the tightening noose that could choke off China’s modernization.
Contest Between Water and Energy Becoming Big Story
Back from China, Circle of Blue's senior editor notices a trend creeping from our headlines to those of other news organizations around the world.
Lessons in Rice, Water, and Farming
Circle of Blue's senior editor reports from the field, literally, as he ends his second week in the rice paddies of rural China.
Production, Water Savings, and a Heroic History on China’s State-owned Farms
Circle of Blue's senior editor starts his second of three weeks reporting in the field from China, where new infrastructure over the next five years will give a big boost to farming in a northeastern province.
In China, Every Square Meter Counts
Circle of Blue's senior editor wraps up his first of three weeks reporting in the field from China, finding a wealth of promise in fields of golden wheat.
Blues Festival and Blue Skies in Beijing
Circle of Blue's senior editor will be filing reports from China for the next three weeks. See what he has to say about Beijing's Blues Festival and a beautiful blue-sky day.
Behind The Scenes: Ball State University’s Collaboration with Circle of Blue
For her senior thesis project, Season Schafer, a student in Ball State University’s Immersive Learning Program, produced this interactive look behind the scenes at the unique partnership between the university’s journalism students and the journalists at Circle of Blue. Watch the interviews to learn more. Click here to see the infographics created by Ball State [...]
Circle of Blue’s China Tour Finds Strong Reception for Water-Energy Choke Point Warning
Circle of Blue and the Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum present at 17 events in 4 cities over 16 days.
Memo to Hu and Obama: Water and Energy Choke Points Merit Time at the China-U.S. Summit
Collaborate on resolving confrontation between rising energy demand and water scarcity in both countries.
Chinese Power Plant Develops Advanced Coal Technology
China attempts to move forward with its clean energy ambitions.
China’s Climate Emissions Are Global Issue, But Water Scarcity Is Greater Domestic Priority
China hosts its first U.N. climate conference as the country works to wed its financial and environmental ambitions.
First Time Key Global Energy Report Highlights Water Constraints of Energy Production
Energy is becoming a thirstier resource, the report states. Photo courtesy Hess Corporation North Dakota is in the midst of a hydrocarbon production boom, as gas and oil developers tap the Bakken Shale. But the boom also is generating civic resistance in the arid region because it requires significant quantities of fresh water. Brett Walton [...]
U.S., U.K, and China Lead Foreign Land Investments In Agriculture and Finance
GRAIN’s online database is the foundation for much of what the world knows about foreign investments in land. Though the majority of “land grabs” are for agribusiness, other sectors include construction, finance, industry, real estate, and more. Map © Varun Mangla /Circle of Blue Interactive map of “Land Grabs” by country and by sector: The [...]
National Security Assessment: Water Scarcity Disrupting U.S. and Three Continents
In a new report, the U.S. State Department finds a global confrontation between growing water demand and shrinking supplies, in addition to predictions for the next 30 years of water scarcity.
“Choke Point: China” Findings Cited in Congressional Hearing
Choke Point: China findings presented at Congressional hearing.
Update: China Completes Tunnel Under Yellow River for South-North Water Transfer Project
China is on target to begin transferring water from the Yangtze River Basin to Hebei, Shandong, and Tianjin by 2013.
Choke Point: China on Wilson Center’s Dialogue Program
On Wednesday evening, dialogue — an award-winning television and radio program that explores the world of ideas through weekly, half-hour conversations with renowned public figures, scholars, journalists, and authors — will feature "Choke Point: The World's Looming Water Crisis."
EIA Report: Global Energy Use To Grow 50 Percent by 2035 — Half of Increase from Fossil Fuels in China and India
The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently published its annual report on global energy projections. Though renewable energy sources and nuclear power, along with unconventional fossil fuels, will phase out coal production over the next two decades, it will not be at the pace necessary to offset greenhouse gas emissions
China Turns Profit From Coal-to-liquid Fuels Production, May Expand Controversial Program
Though China suspended most of its coal-to-liquid fuels refineries in 2008 due to concerns for scarce water resources and high production costs, recent financial gains may lead it to reconsider its policy.
China to Cap Energy Use by 2015 in National Low-Carbon Plan
The energy target will be the highlight of a document to come later this year, as well as a cornerstone of China's efforts to curb soaring greenhouse gas emissions, which currently stand at a quarter of the global total. Cutting coal consumption will inevitably also cut water use, as coal is China's largest industrial user of water.
Australia Builds Desalination Plants and Pipelines to Bring Water to Mines
To feed water-hungry mining industries, similar plans are in the works to supply drought-ridden regions of Australia and China.
Flooding Tests Three Gorges Dam, Pollutes Songhua River in China
Chemical pollution is the latest calamity as heavy rains continue to blanket the country with floods.
China Looks to Increase Hydropower to Meet Clean Energy Goals
While the superpower announces ambitious sustainability goals, it faces droughts and intensive energy needs.
Drought in South China is Worst in Decades
Parts of southern China are being ravaged by a severe three-season drought. Millions of people lack adequate water supplies, and millions of acres of cropland are too dry to plant.
Chinese Farms Generate More Water Pollution than Factories
Study shows 2007 discharges were double previous estimates.
China’s Poor Farmers Hit Hardest by Climate Change
Farmers on the edge of poverty in China’s rural provinces face a bleak future in the wake of warmer temperatures, more frequent droughts and infrequent rainfall. The changing climate is forcing many harvesters into poverty or keeping them from climbing out.
中国庞大的调水工程功效未卜 干旱的北方焦渴等待
当局希望新的西线工程通过审批，将水通向西部的能源储备地。
借助水权转换和高技术电站缓解中国北方能源与水资源的冲突
中国沿黄河开展雄心勃勃的节约用水和水权转换计划以应对迫在眉睫的水资源危机
中国之瓶颈：水匮乏与能源需求
愈演愈烈的具有全球意义的资源困境
Choke Point: China Produced In Collaboration With
Ball State
Energy Foundation
Skoll Foundation
