ABSTRACT
This volume has shown that as a result of 30 years of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, China’s water resources have been severely affected by both water quantity shortages and water quality degradation. Groundwater and surface water pollution are major problems in the country as millions of people are drinking unsafe water, and more than half of the country’s cities contain water that was termed “poor” or “very poor”. It has been acknowledged that water pollution and shortages are far more of a problem in northern China than in southern China. Some of the groundwater in northern China has even been described as “unfit for human contact”.
