China Facing Water Shortage, Threatens Economic Growth, Citizens

As Chinese growth appears to be slowing from the statistically above mean performance of 7 percent, and its rivers, streams and lakes become increasingly polluted, there is a commodity the Asian nation depends upon that isn’t typically linked in mainstream economic analysis: water.

HSBC’s Hong Kong analyst Wai-Shin Chan notes that China will have “tough trade-offs ahead” as it balances water used to pump up manufacturing with the need for a government to ensure that limited water resources provide citizens food and basic energy security in the future. While the battle is not only seen in government near zero-sum decisions to defend its people versus industry, there are battles for water within industry, coal against cotton, for...