Shanghaiist: Well, they did say this was going to be a green Olympics...

WatchBagDVD

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:27:54 +0800

desalination requires considerable energy, which creates waste heat energy and adds to greenhouse gas emissions (or has some other environmental impact if, say nuclear is the power source) and creates a concentrated waste product. On a scale necessary to provide water for a big chunk of northern China? Could help, but can't solve the underlying problem and creates new ones.

booggerg

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:58:26 +0800

I'm not an expert on water supply strategies but couldn't countries turn to desalination when other sources of drinkable water is depleted?

ououou

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:07:45 +0800

yangrouchuan got the "sofa",it's his showtime again.

vladivostok

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:34:58 +0800

Or it could end up on your table the next time you're at some Japanese restaurant. Hah!

shangpudi

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:30:11 +0800

Something tells me someone out there is going to collect this mutant seaweed and then: barely wash it (b/c already from "freshwater") dry it sprinkle some salt wrap it 3 times package it then sell it as either an invigorating tea, vitamin soup subsitute, or an aphrodisiac.

nanheyangrouchuan

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:43:58 +0800

Beijing 'running out of water' By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last updated: 6:45 PM BST 27/06/2008 Beijing is running out of water, an environmental group has claimed in a report which raises more questions over the costs of China's rapid development. Such is the extent of the shortage that the city might have to start shutting down industry and moving population out within the next decade. Six weeks before the Olympics, the report said preparations were making matters worse despite claims that they would be the first "Green Olympics". Water was being diverted to new expanses of greenery and waterways around the city even as rivers across central and northern China were being diverted to the capital to provide basic supplies. The report, Beijing's Water Crisis: 1949-2008 Olympics, said the Games would consume 200 million cubic metres of water, a million people's annual supply at current rates of reserves. "With each new project to tap water somewhere else, demand for water only increases, and at an ever greater cost to China's environment and economy," the report, by Canada-based Probe International, said. Probe has previously questioned China's approach to water management, which focuses on mega-projects such as the Three Gorges Dam and now the South-North water diversion scheme. This huge proposal could see three canal networks bringing water up from the River Yangtse and Tibet to replenish the Yellow River south of Beijing, and ultimately the capital itself. The first phase of the project, a 200-mile northern arm of the central network, is almost complete. Beijing has no major rivers and draws much of its water from underground, mining deeper every year, and by diverting supplies from rural areas of the surrounding province of Hebei. Grainne Ryder, Probe's policy director, said studies predicted that even this could prove inadequate within five to ten years. "I would imagine it would be a phased shut-down of its economy, an economic collapse," she said. Chinese officials acknowledge the extent of the problem, but have been reluctant to implement one of the major reforms recommended by the report – raising prices to encourage efficiency – at a time when urban populations are facing rising food and petrol prices. Story from Telegraph News: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/2206744/Beijing-%27running-out-of-water%27.html

nanheyangrouchuan

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:29:51 +0800

China is a big pile of filthy rubbish. And it is our fault for exposing the rest of the world.