The earth is the great parent of us all, and water is the source of all life on earth. Without water, there would be no oceans, no lakes, no rivers, no rain, nothing to drink, no you, no me, no anybody! Water is a precious asset, and is essential for every human activity. Most people can survive without food for a short time, but without water your time's up.

More than 20 years ago, when Chinese people were suffering from a shortage economy, they probably never imagined that in the near future the once seemingly inexhaustible water supply would be in such serious trouble that it could menace their very existence.

Economic development in China over the past two decades has solved the long-standing problem of food and clothing for Chinese people. In the meantime, water pollution and the dramatically increasing use of water for industrialization and urbanization has made China's water deficiency worse than ever.

Water shortages are a problem plaguing many large cities in China. Take Beijing for example. Beijing is currently experiencing a water shortage that is more severe than most people believe. Experts say that Beijing is short 200 million cubic metres of water in normal years, and 1.1 billion cubic metres of water in dry years. These two figures are expected to reach 999 million cubic metres and 2 billion cubic metres respectively by the year 2010.

Jinan in Shandong Province, a city known as "Quan Cheng" (Spring City), is also suffering from a water shortage. There, so much water has been pumped from the ground to meet the needs of economic growth that ground water is nearly depleted.

Don't think that water shortages are confined to the north which has fewer water resources. In recent years, there has been an increase in media reports about shortages in such southern provinces as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei and Hunan - all of these places have long been famed as "Shuixiang," or water regions.

Why do water regions lack water? Because polluted water can no longer be used. Ironically, what many people are doing to supposedly win their subsistence and development is in fact destroying the foundations on which they rely for their subsistence and development

Unrestrained economic growth and unsustainable development are to blame for the shortfalls in water supply. Similarly, the destruction of forests and vegetation along the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River due to unbridled economic activity is one of the main causes for flow-cut-off and the drying up of the Yellow River.

If the Yellow River dries up, then the next river to suffer the same fate will probably be the Yangtze River. Just imagine the catastrophic consequences if this is allowed to happen.

China is one of the most water deficient countries in the world, with available per-capita water resources standing at 2,200 cubic metres. This is only a quarter of the world average, and 1/16 that of the United States.

Being a water-scarce country, China cannot afford to follow in the footsteps of Western industrialization in consuming water resources, therefore we need to search for our own model of modernization in accordance with our own conditions.