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China Turns to the Sea for Fresh Water

The government plans to quadruple desalination by 2020
relates to China Turns to the Sea for Fresh Water

On the shores of Bohai Bay near the industrial city of Tangshan, construction has begun on an engineering project ambitious even by Chinese standards. Starting in 2019, the facility will remove salt from 120,000 tons of seawater each day. The result will be 50,000 tons of potable water, to be piped 170 miles to Beijing. The capital, located in the arid northeast, has scarce rainfall and dwindling water reserves.

Home to 20 percent of the world’s population but only 7 percent of its fresh water, China has embraced desalination. The central government’s Special Plan for Seawater Utilization calls for producing 3 million tons (807 million gallons) a day of purified seawater by 2020—roughly quadruple the country’s current capacity. Of China’s 668 largest cities, at least 400 already suffer from water scarcity.