China's Water Problem

Keith Schneider maps it:

[Geographer Huo Youguang] explained that the two most important natural resources that are needed to support China’s development in this decadewater and energyare defined by what he called a “geographic mismatch.” The new energy reserves are in the dry north. The available water to develop them is in the rainy south.

The story has some amazing stats, like this:

Though China’s economy has grown almost ten-fold since the mid-1990s, water consumption has increased 15 percent, or 1 percent annually.