ABSTRACT
I am a PhD student from China, a vast and ancient country that suffers simultaneously from both droughts and floods, as well as from serious issues related to the quality of both groundwater and surface water. Due to the increase of impervious surfaces and insufficient drainage systems, water logging has become a crucial matter for many big cities in China. More frequent and heavier rainfall events caused by climate change have no doubt aggravated this problem. Back in the summer of 2012, I was sitting in my rented house in Beijing, watching the rainwater turn into a big stream rushing around the house. That day, the deadly rainfall took over 70 lives. That was the trigger for me to become a hydrologist, to make my contribution to creating a better living environment.
