Essential 2

What is the next most important essential for humans besides air? Water of course. Without water we can only live for days. The sad reality is that water has become a precious resource and the situation is continuing.

The recent drought in China has highlighted the shortage of water. 15 years ago, we had drought in China but it only affected crop; 10 years ago, the drought in China affected crop and animals; now the drought in China is affecting humans. We need to act immediately to control the situation otherwise more people will suffer.

The crux is that although the Chinese government is trying to find more water from underground water or divert river course to acquire more water, the problems are that the first method causes land collapses as hollows are formed underground and the second method may lead to war as we are stealing water from other countries. Some rivers start from China pass different countries before reach to the sea. By diverting river courses people who live in the downstream areas may not get sufficient water.

An alternative which is viable is to change sea water to drinking water. It takes more money than pumping from the underground or stealing from others but the supply is unlimited in theory. If we build up more factories for converting sea water to drinking water, the costs should go down.

Although the above factories can solve the water scarcity, the northwest or southwest parts of China still face the drought problem as the sea is not near them. It is necessary to build up long pipes to pump water from the east to the west in order to solve the problem. If we have built up long pipes for delivering oil from Russia to China, why not water pipes?